Latch
by cassidieissocoollike
Summary: It's been six months since The New York Incident and three since the Mandarin Incident. A dysfunctional Tony is going through the motions as he tries time and time again to forget about his feelings for anyone, however when Loki gets the Magician's Sniffles things take a turn for the strange, and not at all in Tony's favor, but then again when has anything been in his favor? M/M
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello everyone! Welcome to my new story Latch, I hope it turns out as great as I had originally imagined. It's my first Stony so bear with me if there's A LOT of OOCness. **_

_**Remember, I do not own The Avengers (though I wish I did) or any of the characters (again wish I did) because if I did Steve would have TOTALLY kissed Tony that one time, though as we fans know TOTALLY happened and the director just cut it to save time and I'm rambling. As always Read and Review 'tis a golden rule in the FF community, that and I want to know what you think so far. Feel free to correct any of my mistakes I won't take them personally, rather I'll try to correct any and all that I see. Next authors note won't be so long, promise. **_

_**Now for the warnings!**_

_**Language, because you really can't have Tony and censorship in one sentence unless a "does not know" is tacked on in front, eventual love making, if by any chance you clicked on this story without realizing what you were getting into I AM WARNING YOU NOW, so if you DO NOT LIKE IT DO NOT READ IT, this will be your first and last warning! I do not want to open my email and see a lot of flames concerning sexual relations, flame me for my writing not my open-mindedness. For you picky readers out there here's a list of the pairings. Stony, Thorki, Hulkeye, and Black Pepper (don't know how I'll make that work what with it being awkward as hell between Pepper and Tony), some spoilers regarding Iron Man 3 which again I do not own. It's rated M for a reason and I just gave you a TON of reasons. **_

_**Now for the good part!**_

* * *

Tony Stark doesn't cry. He simply refuses to lower himself to the standard of a _regular _human being.

Besides, he was anything but normal.

He had a device inside of his chest that kept him alive but was such a burden he wondered (on particularly low days) what would happen if he were just to remove it… let the shrapnel take over his heart and kill him. No one would miss him anyways.

Regardless, he could recall a couple of instances where no matter how much will power he had over his tear ducts he was still lowered to the standard of a regular human being. One of them had been at his parent's funeral.

He'd never had a strong, loving relationship with his parents. They treated him like an employee rather than a son. His father especially.

The only time Howard Stark was ever truly animated was when his son brought _him_ up. As a young boy it never truly affected him but as an adult finally having met the man up close and personal, it was a dream shattering experience.

Especially the scene in the Helicarrier…

Either way, as the many acquaintances departed the scene giving Tony nothing but remorseful looks he finally broke down.

The wetness on his cheek surprised him a bit; he'd been a wreck after that. It was all wine, women, and fun.

And then the event in Afghanistan happened and he wasn't able to sleep at night.

And then Pepper happened and he was finally able to stop his ONS's.

And then _he _appeared and he was starting to second guess his purpose in life.

And then Loki happened and he wasn't able to put his tools down in fear that if he slept he would never wake up.

And then Killian and the entire Extremis/Mandarin thing happened and he really didn't care if he slept or not just as long as he didn't wake up the next day.

So far the fates wouldn't grant his wish. He should probably seek help but he was Tony _Stark_, genius, billionaire…

Did it _matter_ anymore?

Anyways, the most recent recollection of his body and mind betraying his better judgment was when he broke up with Pepper.

To him it seemed that Pepper was already expecting the break up. Not a tear was shed on her part (or at least not any that he could see), while he tore half his lab apart with angry tears streaming down his face, not only were his cheeks wet but his eyes stung and as he calmed down from his tantrum but continued crying, he wondered if this so called _lowering_ was just his body's way of telling him he was human.

As the days progressed incredibly slowly, he pondered what it would be like to reenter his little wine, women, and fun attitude. Of course something like this was expected from the _playboy_ side of Tony Stark but… _he_ was in the way.

He would never admit this to anyone and the only reason he began to acknowledge this was because he had been in a weaker state of mind that day.

The _only_ reason Tony broke up with Pepper had been because of his forbidden thoughts. His subconscious was constantly feeding his fantasies, and it was driving him insane. Though he was not physically cheating on Pepper he felt like he betrayed her somehow for lov- for caring for someone else while in a relationship with her. Though that thought was sickeningly comforting it still did not lessen the pain of seeing the only woman he could really rely on walk out his door and become his coworker once again.

Taking all that into consideration it was no wonder he spent his fatigued days in a sleeping pill induced coma and his nights in a drunken inspired stupor. It was a dangerous combination, and he knew it, it's just that he didn't give a shit.

Someone (with incredibly gentle hands) was slowly rousing him from his sleep. All these thoughts slowly receded to the most remote corners of his consciousness lingering only a fraction of a second.

"I was paying attention; we were talking about the robot incident down in Brooklyn right?" Tony said with a jolt to the empty conference table around him, there were few people minding the stations and his team was nowhere to be found, plus it was pitch black outside.

"What the _hell_? Where is everyone?" Tony asked to no one in particular until a navy blue, silver starred, red-white-and-blue shielded individual crossed his line of sight, and he would deny this until the day he died but his heart skip a beat as he stared at him.

"You fell asleep in the middle of the meeting, since Fury couldn't wake you up, amazing feat by the way, we decided to let you sleep. Your neck and back must be killing your right now, however, you can bunk in one of the rooms if you'd like, and see we're over the Pacific right now and it's pretty dark. Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton as well as myself and Doctor Banner bunk here so-

"Let me stop you right there Capt'n, you seem to forget that I'm the patriarch of a multimillion dollar suit that could kick your ass in battle, or did you _forget_ about today's _incident_?" Tony mocked. In truth, he would've loved to listen Captain Spangles over here talk the entire night off, but he could only be so close to the man for certain periods of time before his more primal instinct kicked in and all he wanted to do was violate (and be violated in return) by the red-white-and-blue worshiping Captain.

Of course he couldn't and shouldn't and _wouldn't _so he kept his thoughts to himself and tried (as much as he failed in the end) to repress those feelings. And the only way to do so was to mock, tease, and downright insult Captain's abilities in the battle field slash his lack of leadership work regardless of how much all of that was just pure bullshit.

Captain America was or had been his idol growing up. He sort of worshipped him when he was younger, a byproduct of his father's constant attention and admiration for the man.

That being said, seeing the man in action made parts of his anatomy "wake up" and he was immensely glad his _second skin_ was a metal suit. Not only that but his leadership was nothing but flawless, when he spoke you listened whether you wanted to or not.

Of course Captain was fooled by Stark's ability to dissemble anyone around him.

So of course he took offence, his face turning unbelievably hard and his eyes darkening ever so slightly the only implication that he was angry, was by a large vain on his throat throbbing violently against his red skin.

"Though I am incredibly grateful for your _help,_ Stark, I do not appreciate you rubbing my mistakes in my face." Captain said coldly, the venomous ice closing Tony's throat.

Before a shocked Stark could orate an apology, Captain was already gone, his temper leaving a crack on the ground as he stomped off.

Only Stark could make his blood boil this way (or freeze really), if any other member of the team had made that comment he would have let it slide, put a smile on his face, and brush it off as a joke. But with Stark, he simple _couldn't_. Not only that but the comment he had made on the Helicarrier six months ago still stung like a wasp.

Tony sighed as he watched Captains retreating back (and side.) He looked outside as well rubbing his face with his palm and sighing again, it was dark… but the idea of staying on the Helicarrier with every inch of space monitored by one of the many hack-able cameras repulsed him.

He was about to call his suit when he saw the only face on the plane that didn't hate his guts.

"Bruce!" Tony waved catching the distracted doctor's attention.

"Hey Tony, it seems you beat me in the unofficial sleeping contest. You were even able to sleep through Fury's shouts, amazing feat by the way." Bruce congratulated echoing Captain's words.

"So I've heard." Tony said, wondering if he really had been so out of it that not even Fury's voice could wake him from his death sleep.

"So, you staying the night?" Bruce asked sitting down in the chair next to Tony offhandedly placing a pencil in his mouth.

"Was just thinking of hauling ass, Captain said we are over the Pacific. Even if I were to fly top speed in the suit I would only make it to New York in roughly two hours, and right now I'd rather not move. The table had seemed like a cloud when I boarded the ship, now my back is killing the shit out of me." That and the arc reactor had bruised one of his lungs since he'd originally lain on the table with his suit on (somewhere in between his sleep he must have ordered Jarvis to pack it up and send it on its merry way.)

"You should stay; I was playing a math game with Cli- Agent Barton and wanted a more formidable adversary." Bruce said his tan cheeks tainted pink with the thought of Barton. Of course Tony noticed and of course he would pound him about it later, but his minuscule yet still very present moral compass told him not to push it right now.

"Of course."

And with those words that's how eventually the entire team ended up playing against the two masterminds.

"Not fair!" Barton exclaimed pointing an accusing finger at Tony who just grinned wickedly as he collected his prize (imported chocolate yumm!)

"It is indeed fair." Tony said popping a chocolate in his mouth. So the score was this, Tony was winning with twenty well _nineteen_ chocolates, Bruce was behind him by only two, surprisingly the silent Captain was behind Bruce by three, Natasha was behind him by one, Thor by six, and Clint by seven.

"I've never even _seen _this symbol before." Barton complained looking at the math problem on the holoscreen.

"'Tis a theta young Barton, the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet." Thor explained as his brain struggled to find the answer, he too had not meddled deeply within arithmetic; his brother was more suited for that… which gave him a great idea.

"It's also used as a replacement for the missing angle of the triangle in trigonometry." Bruce elaborated helping Barton out as much as he could.

"Got it!" Tony and Captain exclaimed at the same time. They locked at eyes briefly before they both sat down.

"So what's the answer?" Barton asked eagerly.

"Ha-ha very funny, figure it out or forfeit one of your chocolates, or I should say, your _only _chocolate." Tony said popping yet another delicacy in his mouth.

"You know that makes us even right?" Bruce asked Tony who just shrugged.

After what seemed like a long time (and everyone else already had their own solutions) Barton dropped his pencil and stared solemnly at the screen.

"Did I ever mention that I was raised in the circus and math was not a priority?" Barton asked eyeing his last piece of candy when his phone rumbled in his pocket.

_From: Brucey_

_To: Barton_

_C=72 ;)_

With a poker face that had taken years to master he looked down at his own answer of .6781 and erased it replacing it smoothly with the 72.

"Alright are we done? Will you give up your chocolate and lose?" Tony asked with a devilish smile on his face.

"Nope." Barton said his poker face still in place; Tony raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"So since both you and Captain got the answer at the same time one of you will have to forfeit two candies if the other is wrong." Bruce said.

Tony rolled his eyes, confident that he would be keeping his eighteen chocolates. The Captain sighed, the game was fun, but if it pitted him against Tony he'd rather not deal with it.

"Well C=72." Tony said placing his answer on the center of the table for everyone to see the complicated math problem solved with an equally amount of complicated routes.

"I agree." Captain said placing his paper delicately beside Tony's, their route for finding the answer had been identical and Tony bubbled up at the thought of sharing something with the man.

"Who else got 72?" Tony asked as he basked in the glory of obtaining five more candies. Since both of them got the answer both of them got the candy with an added bonus of three each.

Bruce and Clinton raised their hands as Natasha cursed and Thor looked amused still pondering over his great idea.

"I don't know how you did it Barton but I will find out." Tony threatened. They stood up to switch seats Tony still in the kings chair now next to him Captain who tried to sit as far away as the chair would let him. And Tony would deny it until the day he died, but that stung like a motherfucker.

"Comrades, I have come across an idea that would make this joyous congregation more enjoyable!" Thor boomed a 1,000 watt smile on his face.

"Oh yeah? What is it?" Tony asked still trying not to feel like a kicked puppy.

"We should invite my brother! He is extremely advanced in the art of arithmetic, I think he would be a very formidable adversary, even for your superior intelligence young Stark." Thor said as if it were the greatest idea ever.

There was a resounding "NO!" from every other member of the team. Tony actually choked on his saliva as he inhaled.

"Why not?" Thor asked sulkily.

"Um your brother doesn't have a very good track record Thor, sorry but no." Tony said picking the pencil back up.

"It's not like you can talk." Captain murmured.

"Do you want to start something Spangles?" Tony snapped his heart beating fast and his chest feeling compressed, so that's what he thought of him?

"No, I'm just simply stating the obvious." Captain retorted not even bothering to look at Tony's hurt expression.

"He's changed his way's young Stark, just for tonight if you could-

"I said no Thor! What part of that word don't you understand?" Tony shouted getting out of his seat.

"The N and the O part." A new voice said chilling every fiber of Tony's being.

Natasha was ready in an instant both her guns pointed at all the vital regions of Loki's person and Barton stood behind her his bow and arrow ready.

Captain hugged his shield ready to throw it any second and Bruce was looking green around the edges.

"Peace, Peace." Loki said raising his hands. He was in casual Asgardian attire his usually hypnotic green eyes dulled to a light blue and the usually malicious aura that came off him was absent.

"Let me explain." Started Thor but Tony shut him up with a previously hidden repulsor now pointed at Thor's chest plate.

"What are you doing here Loki?" Tony asked calmly every nerve under his skin jumping at the chance to be used to strangle Loki.

"I was invited by my bro- by Thor to partake in this game of yours, I understand if you do not believe a word I say but I do not wish to upset anyone further than I already have." Loki said his tone sincere.

_Was Loki even capable of _sounding_ sincere?_ Tony thought as he judged the situation.

"Thor say's you've changed, is that true?" Tony asked eyeing Loki with disbelief in his eyes.

"When I arrived on earth, though I was not under the Other's control I was still very much controlled by him, my will, and even my judgment were impaired, I do wish to apologize sincerely this time. I never meant to cause so much harm." Loki said his voice never wavering and his eyes never twitching, if he was lying then he did an incredible job.

"Stark, don't believe him." Natasha warned her gaze hard as steel Barton stood behind her his tendons straining against his taut skin.

"You're normally a good judge of character unless you're judging me, what do you think?" Tony asked the man behind him. Captain was so close he _thought _he could feel his breath on his neck and surprisingly a _coolness_ rather than heat radiating off his skin.

Captain sighed and yeah he felt that.

"I think he's telling the truth." Captain said.

"What?" Natasha said at the same time Barton yelled "No!"

Bruce left the room there and not a second later Barton fallowed his eyes never leaving Loki, his bow still pointed at him.

"I thought so." Tony acquiesced, lowering his repulsor and walking towards Loki who was quite a bit taller than him.

Their noses were almost touching as Tony looked him steadily in the eyes.

"Try _anything _against my team and there won't be a nook or cranny in the universe for you to hide in, because I will find you and I will kill you." Tony threatened noticing the slight bob of Loki's Adam's apple.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that, I may be a liar but I am also a man of my word, I will not attempt anything against your team that would put them in harm's way." Loki nearly whispered as he cowered underneath Tony's glare. Now that the "evil guy" façade had worn off Tony noticed that Loki was incredibly vulnerable. It didn't make him want to forgive him right off the bat but it did indeed make him consider it for the future. As long as Loki truly was a man of his word.

After a couple of beats Tony brought him up to speed in the game and was surprised when Loki genuinely smiled.

A couple of moments later the two males that had previously run off returned, Doctor Banner still looked pissed as hell but at least he was a tan not a green. Natasha kept her gun on the table innocently pointed at Loki who sat beside his brother and Barton who picked his teeth with one of his daggers.

Loki did indeed prove a formidable adversary as round after round he butted heads with Tony Stark and Captain.

Soon they were the only three left, everyone gathered around the three looking intently on the math battle momentarily forgetting that six months ago Loki was trying to take over the world.

"Got it!" all three of them exclaimed slamming the papers on the table with identical answers. Tony was even perspiring at the effort, _how_ did they get the answers so fast?

"This is never going to end, they're all too smart!" Barton complained his bow long forgotten as he got into the game, Natasha was not so easily swayed but even she saw the obvious changes in Loki.

As the holoscreen switched to the next problem both Captain and Loki gasped at its complexity.

"Finally, something you two _can't_ do." Tony praised as he completed the problem in record time accidentally forgetting the negative one tacked at the end.

"Done." Tony said smugly and laid the paper on the table, Bruce raised an eyebrow at the problem catching the mistake quickly.

"Um Tony…" the Doctor tried to warn but Loki had already finished the problem _correctly_ leaving the other two to bite the dust, when Tony looked at his paper he gasped noticing the incorrect calculation a second too late because the Captain had also caught on and was placing his paper delicately underneath Loki's.

"H-how… b-but… No!" Tony stuttered as Loki shoved him off his seat and took the rightful place as king.

"Tony got owned!" Barton shouted offering Loki a high five. The trickster was surprised and smiled high fiving the archer.

"Fuck off, Legolas." Tony said as he dusted himself off.

"_Language_ Stark." Captain warned as he completed the next problem a second behind Loki.

"You too Captain." Tony said as he crossed his arms and joined to spectators. Captain just shook his head slowly losing his chocolate to Loki who was already jumping from the excess sugar in his system.

The sun was rising as Captain Rogers looked at his last piece of chocolate, Loki grinned mischievously as he stared at the screen, then it fell off his face.

"Ah… what is the meaning of this?" Loki asked the spectators behind him and then turned back to the screen, he couldn't make sense of the randomly placed lines.

"_Battle Tactics_." Captain and Thor sighed at the same time; they looked like children in a candy shop.

"I was wondering when that one would show up." Tony mused staring at Captain's furiously scribbling hand.

"That's not just!" Loki complained looking over at Captain who held the piece of paper triumphantly over his head and laid it flat on the table. Tony and Thor eyed it nodding in unison.

"Captain wins." Tony declared, as soon as he did the Captain scooped up all the chocolate and ran away yelling "Mineeee!" as he did. The rest of the team (even Natasha) howled with laughter.

Loki looked shocked, his mouth agape, and huffed crossing his arms.

"Maybe you should have listened better in school, brother." Thor teased, secretly handing him a piece of chocolate.

"What is the meaning of all this damn noise?" Fury boomed stopping all the laughter and cheering.

When he spotted Loki he pulled out his gun and pointed it accusingly at the Demigod. Surprisingly Natasha and Barton aimed their weapons at the Director and not so surprisingly Thor pointed Mjolnir at the Director as if it were a shield.

"What is _he _doing here? And how come no one alerted me." Fury asked surprised that his team had turned against him.

"We were playing a game and decided to settle our differences." Tony said tiredly, dismissing the Director with one hand.

"I do not want him on my ship again, understand!" Fury ordered lowering his weapon but not releasing it.

"Fine, whatever, Thor do your thing… Loki, I won't forgive you yet, but keep doing what you did today." Tony said, walking away not waiting for a reply.

He paused on his way to his suit when he heard a distinct sound of pleasure, following a tug in his tummy he wandered into the corridor and rounded on a door labeled _Steven G. Rogers_.

"Mmm these are so good." Captain groaned shoving another delicacy inside his mouth he was already halfway through the stack, and would be sad when they finished but right now he had to keep eating as if his life depended on it.

Tony's lower half was having a hard time controlling itself as Steve made those noises. He shook his head and moved away from the door again to the path of his suit. He would deny this until the day he died, but right then and there he was incredibly aroused.

* * *

_**So what did you think? Remember FF's golden rule!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thank you very much for reading, don't fo-ür-jey to review!**_

_**(Bee the way, I tend to change POV's very often, but this is in third person so don't worry 'bout it:))**_

* * *

_Fury must be joking_. Steve thought as he watched the Director with something akin to shock. Fury noticed and wondered if he'd suddenly grown a second head.

"Yes Rogers?" Fury asked as Steve's face underwent a horrible case of WTF metamorphosis.

"Um, Fury sir, with all due respect, you must be joking right? I mean w-we can't stay under the same room without one of us throwing a tantrum with the other-

"And by one of us you mean you and Stark, am I wrong?" Fury said before Tony could. That statement left Steve speechless; he blushed furiously and slumped into his arms like a little kid, not before noticing Tony's confused expression.

That damn man was so _infuriating_! What gave him the right to look so adorable?

Okay, so Steve may or may not have had one or two _indecent_ thoughts about the other man when he allowed his brain the small pleasure to think about him.

Ever since he found out he liked him he had gone out of his way to be extremely rude to the other male, something he was not accustomed to doing but turned out to be extremely easy because the other man could be so… well… infuriating.

Half of the reason he did this was because he was afraid of his feelings and them getting hurt via rejection. Another reason, the one he stuck to like Velcro, were his antiquated morals. Apparently, his so-called _indecent_ thoughts were now normal and though it had been about eight months since his release from his frozen incarceration, it still took him a while to get used to the modern world.

Like this morning for example, he'd been chopping some onions for breakfast when one of the younger members strolled into the community kitchen looking at him strangely.

"_Why are you doing that by hand?" _The young recruit had asked pulling out a small circular device with sickle looking blades attached to the bottom of the thing.

"_Doesn't everyone?"_ Steve had asked innocently, eying the device in the other man's hands.

"_Oh heavens no, here let me show you."_ And then he proceeded in blowing Steve's mind by chopping the onions in the device.

Things were so much _easier_ (or lazier) in the future. But he wondered if that was a good thing.

Well back to the matter at hand.

As he was previously saying, he still felt guilty for thinking those things about Tony, like how it would be like to hold hands underneath the moonlight, or go for long walks in some long-forgotten meadow. It filled his mind every waking and not waking second of his life and frankly he was close to cracking, close to confessing everything, spilling his bloody guts out on the other individual and not giving a darn.

But he never could and never _would_. The other was not for him, so instead of saying what he meant he gave him the cold shoulder and when he was forced to talk he made sure he analyzed each word carefully before orating it, God only knows what he would say if he let his mouth have free reign over his speech.

So when Fury announced that all the Avengers would be staying under one roof, _Tony's_ roof to be exact, his first feeling had been one of utter joy, and then, devastating dismay.

It was hard enough acting like a total jerk in front of the man in their off hours, now he'd have to try extra hard _not_ to let his true emotions spill out on his expensive wood floor.

So yeah, Steve was in a state of depression right now (but a very large (purposely ignored) part of him was awfully happy with the arrangement).

* * *

Tony should have expected Captain to react that way, it still hurt however, no matter how many times he reassured himself that he was being a fucking idiot.

On an odd whim, in his drunken stupor nights, a couple months back he'd ordered Jarvis to plan and execute an Avengers Tower makeover.

When he woke up the next morning, half sober, he was surprised to see that his not-so dream had come true. Every floor was rearranged specifically for each Avenger; even Coulson had a room if he decided to visit.

And yes, Coulson was alive. It was a shock to everyone, especially the Captain who had rushed towards the other male super elated to see him.

Tony would bet all the money he had that when Coulson's room door had closed and locked that same night he fanboy'd so hard he came.

But then again, that's Tony (we also don't need to mention how inexplicably jealous Tony was).

Anyways, he agreed fully with Fury, he'd already been getting frequent visits from Bruce, and Barton had stopped by a couple of times as well surgically attached to Bruce's hip (again gotta ask him about that).

So all he had to do was wait for his comrades, as Thor put it, to stroll in and take their rightful place under his (now their) roof.

But of course capsicle had to open his pretty mouth and ruin it.

So he _really _shouldn't have been surprised when he passed Fury's office and saw Steve arguing vehemently with the Director.

"-It's not just a tantrum, sir, I dislike Tony Stark, he is selfish and irresponsible. I will not be able to sleep a wink knowing that any second he could off us and-

"Steven Grant Rogers!" Fury triple-named Steve, successfully shutting him up. Fury had caught a glimpse of the brown haired individual of their conversation and made an attempt to wipe the shit stains off the walls.

"I know you don't like Stark, but he's just as important to the team as you are, if he goes then all of you go, do _not_ consider yourself special because you were the First Avenger. So learn how to play nice or I will be forced to sew both your lips together, understand?" Fury said dead serious.

Steve blinked in shock for a second, actually…

He shook his head furiously clearing any thoughts he'd previously been thinking.

"That's disgusting." Steve lied, saying the words with such venom that he could have burnt a hole in the ground.

The next second they heard quick, retreating footsteps and Fury knew Tony had heard Steve. Well shit, that must've stung.

Steve ignored the slight pang in his stomach; it was probably another employee running an errand… it couldn't have possibly been Tony.

"I asked if you understood, not your personal opinion." Fury said coolly.

"Yes sir." Steve sighed leaving the room when he was dismissed. "I'll go pack my things." Steve said offhandedly.

"You do realize this is for the best, as long as all of you are under the same roof it is easier for you all to congregate when needed." _And spy on._ Steve finished for the Director, as he simply nodded and walked away.

Tony stopped running to catch his breath at the edge of the Helicarrier, some of the employees were looking at him worriedly, one bad spin and he could tumble out. They seemed to forget however that he'd almost died in one of the engines; a little height couldn't scare him.

Besides he wasn't really thinking about his precarious position. He was thinking about what Steve had said.

_He'd called it disgusting, I mean I understand what year he was raised in, but it was only because it was me wasn't it?_

Tony thought to himself refusing to let his emotions make their way to his eyes. He instantly hardened then, vowing to never let Steve, or anyone, enter his heart. Pepper had seemed like a snug fit, but like a shoe that was a size too small, it wasn't until after you noticed the ache in your feet that you realized maybe you should have bought the right size, even if it _was_ out of stock, but seriously they should always have the right size, hell buy extra if that's what it took and he's rambling again.

But he was serious; he'd take hold of any fleeting thought and lock it away in vault labeled DO NOT OPEN. And only he would know why that damn vault door should remain shut.

* * *

Later on that night, Jarvis alerted him of the Avengers arrival. Tony dropped his torch and rushed out his shop door to greet his team.

"Hey guys!" Tony said enjoying the shocked look on their faces as they admired the room that would eventually become their living room.

"Stark your place is amazing." Barton praised looking at all the perfect nooks and crannies he would eventually hide in.

"I know." Tony said smug, brushing off the compliment but taking it to heart. He really did love his team. More than he'd admit and more than he'd ever tell anyone.

He did notice someone missing and his smile faltered as his mental fingers typed in the combination to the vault. _NO_!

"Where's Steve?" Tony asked hoping it sounded like the question it was and not like the hurt, kicked puppy feeling he was experiencing.

"Oh, he had some loose ends to tie up; he'll be here in a couple of minutes." Barton replied not waiting to dig into his new living quarters, whistling and gasping and gaping (oh my!) at the multitude of entertainment and just cool _stuff_ everywhere.

"Okay Stark, you being a gazillionare is definitely my favorite thing in the entire world." Barton said as he walked around the space.

"Thanks, and again, I know." Tony said not as happily as before.

Steve walked in a couple of moments later an unreadable expression on his face. Of course he was impressed by the amount of _stuff_ everyone, but of course he was trying to distance himself as much as he could from the other man who was wearing nothing more than a dirty wife beater and red boxers.

"Does a human being really need this much room?" Steve complained. The others were taken back by his rude introduction.

"In Asgard a man's living space is considered a place where he can place his dreams, the bigger the space, the more dreams to fulfill." Thor said breaking the ice without realizing it.

Steve felt the stony glare Tony shot his way and felt horrible for opening his mouth.

* * *

Tony showed everyone their rooms, explaining with enough detail so everyone would understand that the Lab, his workshop, and his bedroom were completely off-limits but that every other room was perfectly acceptable, and if Barton could find it, then they could have the stash of money he kept hidden in various places in the tower. To this Barton pumped his fist and shouted "Challenge accepted!"

As the other team members stayed in their quarters only Steve and Tony remained. In the back of his mind Tony hadn't quite seen the harm in putting Steve's quarters directly _beside _him rather than _underneath_ him.

He was only thinking how great it would be to have him closer each morning.

But now those thoughts seemed stupid and he regretted not looking over the plans again.

"And this is your room, I hope you like the theme, I had Jarvis color code the whole thing… I-I know we started off on the wrong side of the bridge, but I wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for what I said on the Helicarrier all those months ago. We were both being influenced by Loki and I was being inconsiderate, and also, I don't apologize often so I hope you accept this one." Tony said not able to meet Steve's gaze.

"I guess I'm sorry too… I don't mean to be such a jerk it's just that… it's really difficult for me. I'm still getting used to this New Age thing, and I _think_ I may be taking out all my stress on you." Steve said, extending his hand.

"Truce?"

Tony looked at the hand suspiciously, he could already feel the vault strain to open, could see the fingers typing in the code furiously but he wouldn't let those thoughts escape.

"Truce."

* * *

_**Review for others the way you'd want to be reviewed! **_

_** -FF's golden rule**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the unexcused absence, writers block can be a whore.**

**Expect weekly updates, now on to the story.**

* * *

Two weeks in and the tower had become home for all six of the Avengers, save for the occasional departure of a particular Norse God.

Tony had been meticulously learning everyone's schedule. He knew that Natasha, Barton, and Captain woke up at exactly six o'clock; Natasha and Barton went downstairs to the training room while Captain went out for a three hour jog then returned to train with the other two assassins. Thor, when he happened to be here, woke up an hour later and devoured about three boxes of industrial sized Pop-Tarts (which Tony made sure he had stock piled), then he entered the arena and boxed with Barton, who was always up to the challenge, unless he was out saving the other eight realms.

Then there was Bruce and his own schedule. Unexpectedly they coincided more often than not.

Both scientists would pull all-nighters until their bodies crashed, both were glad for dreamless nights, both survived solely on dangerously high levels of caffeine (though Bruce preferred his tea more often than his coffee) and will power. There was one difference to them however, where Tony remained holed up in his man cave, Bruce would actually _interact _with the other Avengers; it seemed odd at first but Bruce was inadvertently a talkative person, especially when it came to his livelihood.

Currently they were both working on something individually when Tony remembered a certain fact that had been in the back of his mind since his teammates had arrived.

"So you and Barton, huh?" Tony said a shit-eating-grin on his face when he heard the simultaneous spit-take and thud in one of the air vents that signaled said _hawk _had heard his little remark.

"W-what are you talking about Tony?" Bruce sputtered cleaning the coffee from his chin and his surroundings noticing that a bit of it had smeared his papers.

"Seriously, you two are as obvious as middle school girls, tell me, how's the sex? I wonder what the Big Guy thinks of all this? Do you ever Hulk out around that time?" Tony asked unashamedly, precariously leaning his chair backwards. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the scarlet blush spreading all over his friends face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Tony, Clint and I are merely friends, just like you and me." Bruce said ignoring the slight nagging in his head that told him otherwise, friends don't normally share a heated kiss, as accidental as it might have been.

"Oh really? Should I ask Barton his opinion then?" Tony asked already rising from his chair and walking over to the air vent.

"Oh Barton!" Tony sing-songed into the vent, much to the dismay of the two other individuals in the room.

"Of course there's nothing going on Stark, start minding your own business." Clint replied hotly, glad for the metal casing, he was sure he was sporting the face of a tomato.

"Is that denial I hear? How un-climactic." Tony complained crossing his arms, careful to place them under his arc reactor. Even the slightest shift of the damn thing would cause the literal shards in his heart to shift and cause an immense amount of pain to jolt through his body.

"What about you Stark, don't think I haven't seen you ogling Captain's body for the past couple of weeks, if you think we're a bunch of schoolgirls, then you two are The Ignorant and the Clueless." Clint retorted glad he could see Tony's shocked face through the shutters in the vent.

Now it was Tony's turn to stutter. "I-I do _not_."

"Is that denial I hear? Yes, you do, but I don't blame you. He does have an incredible body; I hope that doesn't make you jealous." Clint teased a shit-eating-grin you could _hear_ plastered on his face.

_Remember the vault Tony, of course this doesn't make you jealous, that would be irrational. _

"Don't be ridiculous, he's not _that_ good looking-

"So you admit that he _is_ good looking." Barton said jumping down from his hideout.

"I do not, stop twisting my words." Tony demanded, facing the smaller male.

"Then stop twisting situations, besides, if you weren't interested in Cap you wouldn't react so strongly to my teasing." Clint said dead serious. Tony backed down and stepped out of the lab just to walk into the subject of his previous conversation.

"I'm sorry." Steve said lending Tony a hand; of course the billionaire slapped it away and lifted himself up.

"What are made out of? Bricks?" Tony complained almost running out of there.

The doors to his workshop slid smoothly as he approached the vicinity, his suit already open for him. Thank God for Jarvis.

"I take it, sir, we'll be staying out tonight?" The always faithful robotic butler stated rather than asked.

"You know me so well honey." Tony replied forcing his thrusters to kick it into overdrive.

He needed to clear his head, and he only knew one way how.

* * *

"Why do you smell like sweat and regret?" Pepper asked Tony at two-thirty in the morning when her drunken boss appeared on her door in his Iron Man suit.

"I promise -_hiccup_- I didn't do what you –_hiccup -_ think I did, but I –_hiccup-_ almost did." Tony replied pushing past her and crashing into her white leather couch, courtesy of Stark Industries new line of home decoration and appliances.

"So second, third, but no homerun?" She asked closing the door and preparing a cup of hot tea for her ex-lover, she knew better than anyone that Tony would rather have another shot of rum than a cup of tea.

"Just second." Tony replied sitting up and leaning his pounding head back on the couch hoping that reverse elevation would help. It didn't.

"Just second?" Pepper echoed surprised by one of two things, one, that her boss had enough self-control even when drop-dead intoxicated to stop things before the clothes were even off and two, that he hadn't lost his genius license from the amount of brain cells she was sure he killed with every swig of alcohol he took, even stranger (some could even call it a paradox) was that he did some of his best work when in that state of consciousness.

"Stop making fun of me, if the press finds out Tony Stark, genius, billionaire_, __playboy_, philanthropist, had lost his well, _Stark_, I'll become a laughing stock!" Tony replied already sobering up.

Maybe he hadn't been _that_ intoxicated, and maybe his awful mood was brought on by something else entirely.

"Do you care?" Pepper asked sitting next to the cold metal and pressing the hot cup to his cheek.

"No, but I'm supposed to pretend to care you know?" he paused taking a swig of the hot tea making a face but otherwise not complaining. "It's all so complicated."

Pepper sighed and rubbed her eyes, she'd been having a dream where she had become the queen of the lollipop kingdom and the Black Queen was taking over her empire while making the sky bleed red, she had a crown that was oddly shaped like a spider…

"I'm sorry Pep, I'm a jerk boss, was an asshole of a boyfriend, and a terrible friend, how you can stand me is beyond me." Tony apologized placing the cup down on the small table in front of him.

"Don't worry about it Eddie." Pepper said smirking when she saw that familiar scowl on his face.

"You know I hate that nick name." Tony said crossing his robotic arms.

"That's why I use it, well you know my house better than I do so you're welcome to stay, just make sure you're at work tomorrow." Pepper said in half-serious tone, already rising.

"Can I sleep in your bed? You know, for old time's sake?" Tony asked a sly grin on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Tony…" Pepper warned.

"I know, I know I'm sorry I'm just, in a bind right now. Forget I mentioned it, I didn't mean it." Tony apologized shaking his head and rising from the couch, he walked across the room to the guest bedroom his head hung in shame. How could he do something like that to her?

How could he when all he could think about was _him?_

* * *

_Boom, boom, boom! _

Pause.

_Boom, boom, boom! _

Pause.

"Alright already! I'm coming, I'm coming!" Pepper complained as she rushed towards the door, the knocking ceased but she could tell the person on the other side wanted to do it again. She looked through the peephole and was taken aback.

_What's _Steve Rogers_ doing here?_

She opened the door slowly noticing immediately the state of distraught Steve was in. He was shaking slightly, and looking worse for ware than he normally did.

"Mr. Rogers?" Pepper offered as a greeting, she still held the door slightly shut offering only a small space to see inside.

"Good morning Ms. Potts, I am terribly sorry for interrupting your sleep but I was wondering if you've heard word from Stark?" Steve asked his entire face showed his concern and hope. It was now she noticed the deep bags under his eyes and the state of dismay of his clothing, they were wrinkled and slightly dirty; it seems he's been out all night looking for him.

_Curious, very curious indeed._

Before Pepper could reply Tony strolled into the living room.

"Agh, who the _fuck_ is that at the door damn it?!" Tony complained, his use of profanity strongest when his head felt like a voodoo doll.

Everything stopped when Steve and Tony locked eyes.

"What's _he_ doing here?" They both asked at the same time surprising Pepper, she could feel the hostility in the air and something else, something more intimate and secret that she couldn't quite place. She didn't think they even knew it existed… yet.

"Well for starters why don't you come inside Mr. Rogers?" Pepper offered opening the door to its full extent.

"Don't let him in." Tony ordered his brown eyes hard as steel on Pepper's green ones.

"Sorry _Mr. Stark_, but this is my apartment, you can step inside Mr. Rogers; it is obvious the two of you have a lot to talk about." Pepper said the most intimidating figure in the room out of the three.

"Yes ma'am." Steve replied his cold blue eyes missing the original concern they had been displaying earlier, a prominent vein standing at attention on his neck, the only indication that he was angry.

"Now you two, explain." Pepper ordered standing guard at the door.

"Well Ms. Potts-

"Pepper Mr. Rogers, Ms. Potts is my mother." Pepper corrected kindly.

"Okay then Ms. Pepper- Tony snorted dryly but otherwise didn't voice his opinion, Peeper shot him a cold look to shut up any other remark- when Mr. Stark-

"Tony, Steve, Mr. Stark is my father." Tony mocked Pepper in a false falsetto*.

"Tony…" Pepper warned, Extremis slowly glowing in her veins.

_Oh yeah, forgot about that_. Tony thought and shut up immediately.

It was no secret to the team that Pepper had been injected with the Extremis solution, it was just that is was a secret kept in the underworld, Fury had been adamant in recruiting her but in the end she declined deciding to keep her powers to herself thought she knew that they kept a, if not close then distant, watch over her, especially a certain redhead that visited her ever so often.

"Continue Steve." Pepper said calming down.

"As I was saying, _he_ left in kind of a hurry early yesterday and the crew started to worry a bit when he didn't return home, so we asked Jarvis and we noticed he'd been muted by his owner so that's when we really started worrying." Steve expertly left out the part where he'd been so worried he'd punched a hole in a nearby wall that now had and odd painting covering it.

"We also spent some of the night searching for him." Steve finished, okay so maybe he lied about that one, it hadn't been a we so much as a he, he'd been searching all over New York for Tony until he realized he should have first gone to Ms. Potts.

To say he wasn't angry and suspicious (and jealous) to find him in the same apartment as his ex-lover would be a lie.

"Well you guys don't have to worry about me, last time I checked I was adult enough to take care of myself." Tony said not really meaning it. He was humbled that his teammates, especially the one standing in front of him, cared enough about him to go look for him when he was missing. And when had he turned Jarvis off?

"Well I see I was wrong to have worried then, you were already in perfect _company._" Steve spat metaphorically. Tony may not have caught the slight possessiveness of that sentence, but Pepper had.

"If you're worried that Tony and I did anything last night, well early on this morning, then you are sorely mistaken Mr. Rogers. Stark and I are only friends with a small romantic history." Pepper said facing Steve with a suspicious look on her face.

Steve's façade blurred for a second as he realized he had let something slip and now Pepper was suspicious, he glanced quickly at Tony and was glad he'd been looking at Pepper so he wouldn't have noticed him.

"Why would he be worried about that?" Tony asked something odd in his voice. His heart had been hammering for the past minute now as Pepper pointed out something very important. Thank God for women and their intuition.

"I don't know, ask him yourself." Pepper said, realization hitting her like Thor's hammer.

Tony's eyes shifted to Steve who'd composed himself enough to face Tony's questioning eyes.

"Well?" Tony asked the strange tone in his voice still present. He wouldn't go as far as calling it hope, maybe its third cousin twice removed on his step-father's side.

"I couldn't care less about what you two do in your own private time, but I do care when one of my own goes missing." Steve said only confessing half of what he felt. Pepper sighed; they were so ignorant and clueless.

"Well I didn't go missing okay; you don't have to be the _Good Samaritan_ all the time and place 'Missing' posters all over the city of New York!" Tony snapped the tension tangible enough to eat. Pepper didn't stop the arguing just yet, she wanted to see if this argument would end up being fruitful.

"Maybe I do, since you're the only one out of all of us that has been taken captive more times than we can count!" Steve said immediately regretting his choice of words. Pepper now took everything back, she should have stopped this before it had started, damn her curiosity.

Tony's entire core froze and he remembered Afghanistan as if it had just happened, he heaved and fell unto his robotic knees. He had even forgotten to take off his suit.

"Nice going Steve- Pepper congratulated sarcastically, turning to Tony- Tony, are you alright?" Pepper said taking a step forward. Tony looked up his anger and hurt radiating off him in waves, he dismissed Pepper and flew right into Steve, crashing them both into the door and pushing harder until they crashed out of the building.

"You KNOW _NOTHING_!" Tony shouted forgetting he could lower his face piece, in retrospect he probably should have, Steve wouldn't have been able to see his angry tears then.

"Tony I'm-

"Shut the _fuck _up!" Tony gritted out landing one very precise punch at his Captains face satisfied when he heard the pained hiss.

"You don't know what it feels like to feel helpless -_punch- _hopeless -_kick-_ neglected –_punch-_ inferior –_kick_- _unloved!_" Tony chocked on the last word a heart wrenching sob escaping his throat, he sounded like a wounded animal as he recalled the many painful events in his life. A gloved hand came to his mouth as his life flashed before his eyes. His entire existence was _pathetic_.

Steve was pinned down in the middle of a (thankfully) secluded area of the road, he could see the numerable craters they had created, and Pepper was running frantically, Extremis leaving scorch marks on the ground she stepped on. Steve stopped her with a stare.

He was in pain yes, those Iron Man blows weren't light, but his pain was nothing compared to what Tony's face showed him at that moment.

"You don't know what it's like to alone." Tony whispered his large tears falling on Steve's cheeks.

"Yes I do." Steve replied softly. Tony's eyes hardened instantly but let him continue.

"I was always picked on for my small size, even as an adult I had trouble getting dates, they said I was sweet, but that was all I was to them, sweet. And laughable, everyone else laughed at the scrawny kid from Brooklyn who wanted to join the army but couldn't even fit a size eight in women's boots. I know what it's like to be isolated, I spent over seventy years of my life in the ice, I was in my twenties when I went under, that's over two times my original age. When my mother died I had no one but Bucky to look after me, and we were both teens, I know what it feels like to be neglected, I was a hopeless cause to many in the scientific department _and _the inferior soldier in the battle field._ And I know what it means to feel helpless,_ when you sacrificed yourself for the entire city of New York, knowing that you might never come back, I felt helpless and angry, I should be the one to do that, I'm the one that doesn't belong here, so why did you take my only chance to correct that away?

"And then you fell through the crater and Hulk caught you, but then you wouldn't wake up, and I truly felt helpless then because I had no idea how to even _begin_ to pry your armor off much less fix this reactor contraption in your chest, we were nowhere close to your tower, and even if we were no one would be able to figure out where you kept your life support in time. You and I, Tony, are more alike than you can ever imagine." Steve finished off. Tony had been battling with the weakened vault through Steve's entire speech, he knew he had let anger and hurt show but hope and adoration and guilt where crawling up and clawing at the walls of his consciousness.

"I'm sorry Tony, we both said some pretty ignorant things in the Helicarrier that day, and I've been meaning to apologize, I just don't know how." Steve said noticing Tony's eyes had dried a long time ago but he was still battling with his emotions.

"I'm sorry, too." Tony replied sighing so close to Steve's face that the other man could feel it all over his cheeks.

"Alright then, now that the two of you have made up, what are we going to tell the rest of the team when they see this?" Pepper asked breaking the tiny peace the other two males had created.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad." Tony said apologetically after they had separated.

"We can say there had been a small outbreak of robots by some kid; we set the kid straight and cleared up all the robots, all we need now is the money to pay for the damage." Steve said looking at Tony who had a shocked look on his face.

"What?" Steve asked self-consciously.

"You, Steve Rogers AKA, _Captain America_, would _lie _about something like this?" Tony gasped.

"It's not like the truth is any easier to explain." Steve countered.

"I'll give you that one." Tony acquiesced.

"Ms. Pepper, I would really appreciate it if you would keep the truth about this incident a secret." Steve asked a worried smile on his face.

"What incident?" Pepper asked a confused look on her face, though her eyes told another story.

"See? That's why I hired you. You know where the money is, please take care of this?" Tony asked hopefully.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've had to clean up your mess." She huffed but didn't disagree otherwise.

"Thanks Pep darling, come on Cap, I think we need to get some shawarma before we face the rest of the team." Tony said the incident already being locked up in its own box.

Steve rolled his eyes knowing what Tony was doing, he knew they were nowhere near friends yet, and that there would be many fights after this one, but regardless, if it was just for today… well, he didn't mind.

* * *

**Well that's it for chapter three, thanks to all of you who have fave'd/watched still waiting for that review *hopeful look in the eyes* but like everything in life, you do things because you want to not because you want the recognition. **

**Regardless thanks for reading, remember the golden rule yaddi yaddi ya. 'Til next time. **

*** This is funny, falsetto means false in Italian, but also means high pitched, as in music usually done by a male, so putting high would be redundant but putting false is also redundant! I found that humorous while I was writing.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So this is where the story **_**really**_** begins, we've gotten over the obvious conflict between our beloved characters and things from here on out will get increasingly Loki'd :D**

* * *

He should have realized things were wrong _sooner._

It started about a week ago; Loki paid no mind to the floating lamp behind him until he heard the tell-tale clink of its fall. Okay, so maybe a flying object or two should have tipped him off, but it didn't. He had more important things to worry about, like spending every waking second apologizing to his mother. He would never admit that fact of course, everyone else could drop dead and he wouldn't even bat an eyelash to the litigants that called him a murderer, but Frigga…

Frigga was _different_, she meant everything to him, she was the only one he could count on when the going went tough, if anything were to happen to the only woman he had known as mother, he would die. And yet still he hated her, she too had betrayed him, let him made him believe that one day he would be king.

He'd battled with these thoughts of love and hate for many months before he decided to consider his love for her and her love for him, she was still his mother and he was still her son. Whether he liked it or not.

Anyways, apart from the occasional floating object and the rare hot flash, he still didn't get what was wrong. The nagging in the back of his head wasn't helping either.

On day two of supernatural occurrences he started to worry.

He'd been watering some plants with a new spell he'd created when he realized all the pots were pouring waterfalls. Maybe he'd uttered the spell wrong? No that couldn't be it, he was perfect.

So what _was _it?

At the end of the week a headache, that could battle the strength of Thor's hammer, hit him. It wasn't a regular headache either; it was a magically _induced_ headache.

He could feel it, deep down in his magical core the thrashing and tugging of his magic against itself.

That could only mean one thing…

"Oh God, is it really that time already?" Loki complained as he recalled the first time this had happened. He was eight, in the genesis of his magical abilities. He'd consulted an old soothsayer, she was dead now, but at that point in time she was very much alive, and a very good reference. Loki would visit her and expand his magical abilities until he realized she could only teach him so much. However, she had taught him many valuable things, starting with…

"The magic- what now?" Thor asked scratching his head with an adorably confused look on his face. Loki scowled only intensifying the head ache. It made him scowl even harder.

"The _Magica Aeger_. Remember, Thor, when we were children-

"How could I ever forget, you used to be such an adorable brother." Thor interrupted kindly; Loki's eye twitched but he, otherwise, remained silent. He tried to ignore the slight thump his heart had made at being called _adorable._

"As I was saying, recall those many times I went to Astra the Soothsayer? You accompanied me there times a plenty during one of these, but since you have the memory of a snail let me retell it."

* * *

"_The magica- what now?" A much younger version of Thor asked his hand scratching his head. _

"_The _Magica Aeger_, stands for '_sick magic_' in Latin." Astra the Soothsayer explained softly to the older of the two brothers. They were both sitting in her small cabin deep in the forest of Asgard, Loki currently held his head in his hands and was rocking slowly back and forth the pain battling the strength of the Odin's hammer._

"_Well what _is _it? And how soon can I get my hands around its neck so it can stop hurting my Loki!" Thor demanded rising from the floor, ever the valiant even at the young age of ten. _

"_Thor… not so loud." Loki moaned clutching his head tighter. _

"_Sorry brother." Thor quickly apologized rubbing his brother's back. _

"_Let me explain child," Astra said looking between the two boys, "sick magic has to run its course, it is a renewing of his magic, but since he's only just now received his abilities the first cycle is the worst. Every hundred and fifty years his magical core will automatically recycle itself, purging all unnecessary magic and creating newer, stronger connections within itself. His magical signature will change slightly and for the first couple of cycles his magic will be at its peak." She finished hoping they would understand her simplified explanation. The process was much more complicated than that, her own cycles happened less frequently since she was a _Seer_ rather than a _Doer_; her magical boundaries were limited whereas her young sire's weren't. _

"_Is there anyway… to make it… stop." Loki gritted out, every sound he made caused the pounding in his head to intensify marginally. _

"_I'm sorry young one but no, this will last about a month, after that, however, you won't have to worry about it for the next century and a half." Astra said hoping she could soothe the poor boy. He didn't seem any happier with the news._

"_Another thing you should know young Loki, your magical energy is literally pouring out of you, get close enough to an object and it will act according to what your magic tells it to do. Be particularly careful with others around you, one wrong touch and they could be sent into another dimension." Astra said apologetically, she could see the boy hated what was happening to him. His green eyes shone with a bit of fear and distraught, small flecks of amethyst in the depths of his irises showing just how strong the internal turmoil actually was._

The boy is powerful. _Astra thought, it was obvious that if he grew up studying his magic he would be a force to be reckoned with. But lucky for him he had an older brother who worshiped the very ground he stepped on. _

"_Anything else we should know before we depart?" Thor asked, protectively holding his brother, he felt so useless. Give him an army of frost giants and he'd gladly rip them to shreds, but this… this was beyond him, he couldn't even touch the source of his brother's pain much less get rid of it. _

"_I do not believe it is much of a worrisome topic now since the boy is so young… but eventually his powers will become uncontrollable in this state, the only way to get around a catastrophic event would be to switch realms for the time being." Astra explained lightly. _

"_I don't understand." Thor said his lids lowering threateningly. _

"_Simply put, the place of his birth and upbringing will suffer the most from this occasional purge, so much power cannot be expelled without dire repercussions." Astra explained raising an eyebrow at the boy's thickness. _

"_But he's safe, for now." Astra finished looking in her drawer for something… ah! There it is!_

"_Here young Thor, though unfortunately I cannot help your brother's pain, I can help you. Wear this amulet at all times, it will protect you from Loki's more menacing magical expulsions." Astra said holding out the charm for Thor to take. _

"_I do not need your devices to protect me from my brother, I am capable of doing it my-_

"_Just take the amulet." Loki snapped, Thor's voice adding to his agony. _

"_Yes brother." Thor, without his previous qualms, placed the amulet around his neck. It glowed slightly before settling there, dormant._

"_What was the luminescence for?" Thor asked suspiciously. _

"_Oh, it simply means that it has locked onto your spiritual signature. No one else will be able to wear the amulet." Astra sighed out; she rose slowly and guided the boys out of her home._

"_Very powerful indeed, right Mr. Draco?" Astra asked her pet dragon who just coughed a small ball of fire as a reply. _

* * *

"Oh that's right! I remember now!" Thor exclaimed excitedly after Loki was done retelling the story.

"Of course you do you dimwit, or did you think that charm around your neck was just decoration?" Loki asked sarcastically, not really in the mood for arguing, his head was throbbing slowly and he knew that if he spoke too loudly it would end with him suffering.

"That's right- Thor said touching the amulet lightly, it's been so long he'd forgotten about its original purpose- so what now?" Thor asked eyeing Loki wearily. His brother's magic had increased dramatically in the past couple of months, they only had the first and second time to go on and those didn't help since Loki had only been eight and fifteen, still a novice at his magic.

"There's only one thing we _can _do. I-I need you to come outside with me for a second." Loki said faltering for a bit, the sight he had woken up to this morning had been… frightening.

Thor followed Loki quietly to the private outdoor baths reserved for the royal family; he gasped slightly his mouth hanging open and his skin palling visibly at the sight before him.

"W-wha- h-how?" Thor sputtered staring at the fifty foot high barrier of water swishing softly within itself; it stood frozen in place and time looking as if it would fall any second.

"That's not the worst part, look." Loki pointed out into the distance. Thor dropped his hammer, leaving a large crack in the foundation. Over in the horizon the never ending waterfall stood menacingly over Asgard as if waiting for a cue to destroy it all.

"Are… are you controlling it?" Thor asked his brother lightly wondering if his mood reflected his expelling magic.

"No, I noticed it yesterday; I have no say to what it does… I just know that if I don't leave Asgard, something catastrophic will happen, just like Astra had warned." Loki said quietly. He gasped slightly, the water shuddering ever so slightly, when he was dragged out of the vicinity.

"What are you doing Thor? I am able to direct myself you know." Loki complained, jogging to keep up with his older brother's brusque pace.

"Heimdall!" Thor called as they entered the Bifröst.

The ever watchful eyes of Heimdall turned to Thor expectantly.

"I take it we will need tickets for two?" Heimdall joked looking over the horizon of galaxies.

"Time is of the essence Heimdall." Thor warned the guardian.

"Understood sir, where to?" Heimdall asked bored, Thor was overreacting, the barrier of water would not fall for another three weeks, but then again, the citizens of Asgard didn't know that.

"Young Stark's tower." Thor said immediately. To this Loki interjected, "You jest."

"I do not." Thor retorted looking at his brother strangely, he still hadn't let go of his hand.

"You do understand they loathe me right?" Loki asked matter-of-factly.

"Rightfully so." Thor said in a cold voice.

"I already said I was sorry-

"It still does not pardon the wrong that you have done." Thor interrupted, "look, they are the only ones I can trust to keep you safe when I'm away." Thor sighed.

"I am not a babe! I can take perfectly good care of myse- _achoo_!" Loki sneezed, he could see his magical particles in the air; they floated around Thor like pixie dust before settling to the ground.

"Um-hm." Was all Thor said and looked at Heimdall expectantly. Soon they were sent through the stratosphere and into Tony Stark's living room.

* * *

"…_You never ever worry and you never shed a tear_!" Tony sang Paul McCartney's _Say, Say, Say_ as loud as he could his voice anything but graceful.

"_You're saying that my love ain't real, just look at my face, these tears ain't drying_!" He stood in the kitchen reminiscing his childhood, the night before he had downed a bottle of liquor of _some_ brand and for some reason he felt like singing old 80's songs.

"_What can I do, girl, to get through to you, cause I love you (love you) baby (baby)_. _Standing here baptized in all my tears, baby through the years_ _you know I'm crying, ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh!_"

He held a cup of steaming coffee to his lips and drank, humming the rest of the song as it went down. It was one of those rare mornings where he was up before everyone else.

He turned to refill his cup when he heard a sort of zooming sound in his living room. All song and dance escaped him as he sobered up. He leaned against the wall, coffee in one hand and repulsor in the other.

He looked around the corner and rushed into the living room.

_Crash! _That was the sound of his coffee cup hitting the ground as he saw what had become of his living room.

"What the _fuck_ is this?" Tony squealed as he took a look at the giant Asgardian circle thing on the ground of _his fucking living room._

"I'm sorry Metal Man; it was my only means of transportation." Thor apologized holding a disoriented Loki in his arms. It had been a while for the little mischief maker since he'd ridden the Bifröst, he was so used to using his portals that he forgot the sucking and pulling sensation of the godforsaken thing.

"Oh yeah that's cool then, seeing as you put a scorch mark on my _fucking floor!_" Tony bitched ('cause seriously, what male gives a damn about their imported floorboards).

"Please Stark not so loud." Loki pleaded holding his aching skull. His nose was already swollen from his congestion and Tony Stark's shouting was only another addition to the many lists of things that were wrong with him.

"What's the matter with him?" Tony asked after he noticed the green clad villain, or ex-villain. He was still annoying. (Tony was still bitter for having been beat in the math game two months ago.)

"He is unwell." Thor replied looking at his smaller brother fondly.

"Yes, well, being crazy will to that to you." Tony said matter-of-factly.

"Young Stark, this is serious. He suffers from the _Magica Aeger_. His magic is replenishing itself, making his connections stronger, it happens every hundred and fifty years. Inadvertently, it leaves him ill." Thor explained absentmindedly rubbing soothing circles on Loki's back.

"It's more complicated than that, but that's basically it." Loki interjected always the one to correct his brother. At that moment he decided to sneeze, expelling his magical essence across the room.

"Why can't he stay in your realm or whatever?" Tony asked not noticing how his cup was now, once again, in one piece.

"Because it would create an apocalypse." Thor said. Tony laughed, clutching his stomach as he did so.

"Oh, that's rich… wait, you're _serious_?" Tony asked surprised.

"Like a frost giant." Loki replied dryly.

"Young Stark, I understand if you are adverse to the idea of my brother staying here, but I don't know where else to place him." Thor pleaded with a contemplating Tony.

"Thor, I do _not _need a babysitter." Loki reminded his brother not really meaning it.

"I suppose he can stay, but we'll have to explain it to the others… _what the_-?" Tony asked as he noticed his cup sitting there unharmed, even the chip it had acquired over the years was fixed.

"Oh yes about that… you see, his magic is also expelling from his core, when he sneezes they are like tiny projectiles and whatever they happen to hit become magically influenced, he has no control over what spell his magic decides to cast. This is why we had to leave Asgard; here on Midgard, however, the consequences won't be so dire." Thor explained a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"Come again?" Tony asked looking at Loki as if he'd grown a second head.

"Let me demonstrate." Thor said picking up the nearest object (a remote) and tossing it at Loki, it seemed that in the last second his brother developed an orbit because the remote stilled and rotated around his thin frame.

"Hey, stop it! My pain is not for your amusement." Loki complained as he tried to swat the remote off his person. That earned a chuckle from Tony.

"Regardless of how funny this is, we need to consult the others before I make a decision, this is serious and if his Magician's Sniffles will get in the way of our _Avenging _then he might not be able to stay." Tony said all joking aside.

"What did you call it?" Thor and Loki asked in unison, one of the rare times they actually thought on the same track.

"What? Magician's Sniffles? It's easier on the tongue than that Latin stuff. Anyways, let me call the others." With that he left.

"Magician's _Sniffles_, is that a joke?" Loki asked looking at Thor strangely.

"You have to agree that he's right about the facilitation of the phrase." Thor mused out loud.

"Well, yes, but _sniffles_? It makes it sound so childish." Loki said thinking it over.

"Oh stop complaining it makes _you_ sound childish, and look, they're returning." Thor said ignoring the way Loki stuck his tongue out at him.

* * *

"No." Natasha was the first to speak after Thor had explained the situation; all the others were gathered around in a haphazardly constructed circle.

"Why not?" Thor asked confused, he was sure he had explained the reasons why this was a good idea.

"Because he's a threat, find someone else." She replied coldly already rising.

"Now hold up a second Ms. Spider, you seem to forget whose tower this is, I think seeing that it's only for a month he should be able to stay." Tony said earning a murderous glare from Black Widow and a thankful one from Thor.

"I don't know Stark, I kind of agree with Widow on this one." Barton interjected reluctantly, yes he was still torn over the fact that Loki had controlled him at one point in time, but seeing as Loki was also a pawn in the large scheme of things he felt bad in a strange sort of way, he really couldn't explain himself. Though that fact still didn't excuse Loki's temporary walk on the Dark Side.

"Well I guess we'll have to settle this with a vote then," Tony said "everyone except Thor and Loki can vote." Tony added as an afterthought

"All in favor for Loki staying raise your hand." Tony asked raising his own hand. He counted.

One.

Two.

…

Three.

"Well, I really didn't expect you to agree with me Bruce, but… thanks. And you too Cap?" Tony asked surprised.

"I'm only doing it because I trust Thor, and unfortunately Thor believes in Loki so that obligates me to agree with him as well, even if the rest of me does not." Steve explained himself.

"I hope you're happy with your decision Stark, don't come to regret it." Natasha spat venomously, she got up from the ground a hesitant Clint on her heels. The archer looked back at the Doctor in the room, something akin to betrayal in his eyes.

"Well that settles it, welcome to the Stark Tower! You will be staying in Thor's suite, you are free to go anywhere except my workshop and my bedroom. Jarvis will explain the rest as he takes you on a tour of the establishment." Tony welcomed automatically, falling into the role of a good host.

"I… I think I need to take a breather, I'll be back in a couple of hours if anyone needs me." Bruce said offhandedly as the Asgardians followed Jarvis's voice.

"Yeah, sorry for making you decide but thanks for choosing my side, I know it's hard for you. It is for all of us." Tony apologized kindly. Bruce smiled sadly as he left the living room. And then there were two.

"How have you been doing Cap, I heard they pulled you out for a mission a week ago?" Tony asked as an excuse to start a light conversation. Both of them have been walking on eggshells around each other since the incident a month and a half ago.

"Yeah, nothing big, they just wanted me to investigate this rogue Shield base in… Alaska." Steve faltered remembering the panic attack he'd had on the return flight. The cold still did something to him.

"He didn't!" Tony snapped his eyes wide and murderous… Fury.

"He didn't what?" Steve asked confused.

"Fury! He did _not_ send you to _Alaska_ knowing what you've been through." Tony snapped. He tried to ignore that voice asking him why he cared.

"What's it to you? It's not like you care or anything, besides; I can take care of myself." Steve retorted crossing his arms and trying to calm his thundering heart.

"And there you go again, playing the big man, I know you Rogers, more than you expect. I know that you shy away from the freezer whenever it's open, you always drink room temperature water, and you take incredibly hot showers and you keep your room at eighty degrees at all times. Even when flipping through the channels if you so much as see snow you stiffen up and shut the TV off. So you _can't_ tell _me_ you were _fine_ with _Fury_ sending you to _Alaska_." Tony had gotten closer to Steve with every emphasis; they were now nose to nose brown eyes battling with blue ones until Steve spoke.

"I _was_ fine, I don't know what conclusions you've been coming up with but I'm fine now." Steve didn't want to let Tony, or any of his teammates really (but _especially_ Tony), know what was wrong with him.

Tony pushed Steve aside and rushed into the kitchen mumbling incoherently. He grabbed a cup and pushed it on the ice pedal on the fridge. He returned with the cup half full and demanded Steve stretch out his hand. He placed one ice on his hand and waited for his reaction.

Steve's entire body froze instantaneously, he looked at the crescent shaped ice with something akin to fear, his hand felt like it was burning and his entire body broke out into a cold sweat.

"Steve?" Tony asked worriedly, to Steve, Tony's voice sounded far-off and distant. It was as if he were in a trance, he also felt a panic attack coming on and he knew that if he didn't run now Tony would see everything, but his legs wouldn't budge, they were locked in place along with his arm, the ice cube was melting slowly but the smoke made it seem as if it was melting through his hand. Unconsciously he crushed the ice pulverizing it. When he opened his hand again there was nothing but a few drops of water.

"Steve?" Tony asked again urgently. Those blue eyes seemed to come back to life and register what had transpired.

"I would appreciate it very much… if you didn't speak about this to anyone; I can't let Fury find out that I am incapable of holding my own against a piece of ice." Steve said in a dead tone.

"Steve… I'm sorr-

"No Tony, I am."

And with that he left leaving Tony with a cup of melting ice cubes.

* * *

**Not really happy with how this one turned out, I mean I got all the parts I wanted in but the composition and the flow... I guess I just wasn't feeling it. Leave a comment tell me what you think, am I wrong? Right?**

**Regardless, thanks for reading, favin', etc. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Here ya' go! Another quick update for ya', man I'm on fire!**

* * *

"Stark! To your left!" Captain shouted into the com as he caught sight of the symbiotic robot diving head first into Iron Man.

"Already saw him Cap." Tony replied shooting the thing straight through the chest.

_AgroBotz VII_.

They were the new line of "cosmetic" robots. Little did the public know they were actually killer symbiotic beings with an unquenchable thirst for human blood. These robots were created by the nefarious _SigmaToid_. He's a new face in the Evil industry, that's probably why Tony couldn't find a lick of information on the guy, or girl. He/she/it, worked off the field.

Regardless of whom the person is they reeked of amateur. Though the robots may be a nuisance in numbers, separated they were nothing but weak machines, that is, until you break them apart and its pieces start attacking you.

The last round of _AgroBotz VII_ attacked the team and soon the robots were nothing more than scrap metal.

"Good work guys." Tony congratulated his voice coming through as semi-robotic thanks to his suit. He picked up a head for future purposes; maybe he could track the signature back to the perpetrator.

"We still have a lot to clean up." Natasha reminded the man in the suit. She'd gotten over the whole _Loki is staying with us for a month _thing. He'd been there a week and she's been able to analyze him from a distance, he was actually more of a threat to himself than to anyone else.

"That's what Shield is for!" Tony replied flying away to the tower before he was stuck with clean up duty… again.

* * *

"Who _is _this guy?" Tony asked, frustrated. He'd been tracing all possible signatures on the robot's head for two hours now and _nada. _It was as if _SigmaToid_ didn't exist… or was from another planet.

"Jarvis, search any and all files for any astrological bodies named _SigmaToid_." Tony ordered playing with the object in his hands.

"Right away, sir." Jarvis's accented voice replied. Tony leaned back, toying with the thing in his hands, and looking up at the ceiling where Jarvis was running through files at top speed. He however was trying to find out what the name meant; it was etched rather than engraved on the robots head. Something he noticed as he scanned them earlier on. He mirrored the name: _DiotAmgis. _

"Once you're done with _SigmaToid_ look up all possible things for _DiotAmgis._" Tony asked as an afterthought.

"Of course, sir." Jarvis replied, if Tony didn't know better it sounded as if the robotic butler had sighed.

The light knock on his glass door broke Tony out of his reverie. He looked up to see a freshly showered Captain, his hair still damp, and his skin lightly flushed from the (not surprisingly) hot shower he had taken. That reminded Tony of the accusations he'd made the week before. He still felt horrible, and he tried his hardest not to argue with the Captain whenever he could help it.

"Found anything yet?" Steve asked as he was allowed to enter the workshop.

"No, not yet," Tony sighed. "I'm having Jarvis look up any possible matches for _SigmaToid_ and _DiotAgmis. _I did my own background research and nothing. It's as if this guy doesn't even exist." Tony said tossing the head to Steve.

"Did you scan the metal? Could it be that we don't have this type of thing here on earth?" Steve asked placing the head back down and sitting on one of the free chairs.

"That's the first thing I did, it's a very compressed form of nickel, that's why it's so heavy. I did however think that it may not be of earth, there's something about the name _SigmaToid_. It sounds like something NASA would name a planet or whatever." Tony said glancing over at the ceiling to see if Jarvis had come up with anything.

They sat there in silence for the next couple of minutes until Jarvis made a ding sound reminiscent to the sound an oven would make when it was done cooking.

"Here we go. Sig-Ma Toid X and its satellites Sig-Ma Toid XI and Sig-Ma Toid XII, discovered in 1989 on June 23rd, known for its overabundance in, can you guess it? Nickel. It is 3,598 light years away in the galaxy of Nimrod." Tony read out loud excitedly.

"Okay that's great, but it still doesn't explain how they got their robots _here._" Steve said leaning over Tony's shoulder to read the text.

"No, it doesn't. Unless-

"Unless they had a portal." A third (congested) voice interjected.

"Loki, didn't I tell you not to come into my workshop?" Tony asked a bit annoyed with the ill mischief maker.

"Oh yes I know, but the talk of the stars drew me down here like a sailor to a siren's song. Besides, it's not like your Midgardian equipment would be able to explain in such detail what I have seen with my very own eyes." Loki said his tone a bit condescending.

"You mean to tell me you've been on Sig-Ma Toid?" Tony asked skeptically.

"Yes, their precious element is very useful for a lot of my spells." Loki said looking as if he was going to leave.

"Wait a minute; you need to tell us more." Steve said stopping Loki in his tracks. A secret grin overtook Loki's features for a couple of seconds before he turned around, poker face in place.

"Do I Captain?" Loki teased.

"Yeah, you kinda' do, if you want to stay in the Stark Tower that is." Tony said, of course he was bluffing but Loki didn't need to know that.

"I suppose that's fair. What would you like to know?" Loki acquiesced, his head didn't hurt anymore, or at least the head ache had subsided to a bearable, if not wanted, throb. His pain, however, was far from over. That being said, he really didn't want to deal with two upset Avengers.

"What sort of life forms does Sig-Ma contain?" Tony asked first. "And are they dangerous?" Steve asked second.

"They are named _Diott's, _or _Di-O's_. Their leader's name is Diot Agmis, though I'm sure you've already come across that name right Stark?" Loki grinned knowingly his poker face breaking.

"Ha-ha." Tony replied dryly.

"Anyways," Loki continued, "Diot had a smaller brother, his name is Tiod, bear with me on the names, they have a twelve letter alphabet, many of their names have triple T's or are adapted after a member of their tribe dies." Loki sighed taking a small pause; he grabbed the nearest chair, his magical core transforming it into a throne.

"Fitting." Tony said sarcastically.

"It seems my magic knows me better than I thought." Loki laughed, his voice resembling chimes in the wind. No one would expect something so gentle to come out of him.

"Alright, so he had a brother named Tiod, what next?" Tony asked exasperated.

"Tiod was a trouble maker, a firm believer in, what you Midgardians call, Dictatorship. For that he was cast out to the barren moon of Sig indefinitely. He grew rancorous, surviving on nothing but bitter Sig insects, or at least that's how the saying goes. Some believe he died, and others believe he found a way out through the rifts of their world. See Sig-Ma Toid is located between two realms, called the Nether. Many lost or forgotten galaxies drift off to the Nether. When the nine realms align the Nether is vulnerable for attacks and extinction. There is also the realm in between a Nether and a realm, called the Ether, and then between an Ether and Nether there is the AEther realm. The most ancient of all realms, it is the universe of universes, the core and the epitome. Truly beautiful when you- _achoo-_ can see it." Loki said going off on a tangent. He rubbed his nose noticing how his magical particles swirled around the two males then settled on the ground.

"Bless you, and leave the Astronomy talk for Barton; I'm more of a _hands_-_on_ kind of guy." Tony reminded Loki.

"Young Barton you say?" Loki thought to himself making a mental note to ask him about it later.

"Yes Barton, now about those _Di-O's,_ are _they _dangerous?" Tony asked urgently, echoing Captain's earlier question.

"Oh heavens no! They are the most docile and boring creatures you will ever find, it's as if they willingly handed over their free will to their king, why Tiod ever wanted a dictatorship is beyond me. Regardless, I believe that Tiod found a rift and jumped through; associating himself with the dark forces within your world, and thus these _AgroBotz,_ as you call them, came to life." Loki finished his lengthy explanation, which only left the two other males in the room more confused than they had been before.

"Do you know what Tiod looks like?" Tony asked a couple of moments later.

"No, I only ever met Diot. I take it they look fairly alike." Loki supplied, now bored with the conversation.

"What about the fact that they were _alive_? I didn't see a motor anywhere." Steve asked next.

"Now that's a good question." Loki said not really knowing the answer. He would ask Stark if he could scan the metal surface for any trace of magic or entity but in all honesty, he really couldn't be bothered; besides, his magic wouldn't be too useful right now.

"Alright, let's get this thing back upstairs and explain what we know." Tony said picking up the robotic head.

* * *

"And that's all we know." Tony finished explaining. Halfway through the thing Loki had developed the chills and was now chin-deep in blankets. He sneezed every once in a while changing the color of the blankets at he did so.

"I guess all we _can_ do is wait for another attack. Here Tony, I picked up the rest of the robot's body and laid it over there." Barton said pointing at the pile of fragmented pieces.

"Oh! Let me see!" Tony rushed to the robot, the others on his tail. At that moment Loki decided to sneeze (forgetting the Midgardian custom of covering one's expulsions with one's arm) and expelling his magical particles unto the robot's head causing it to reanimate and shoot straight at Tony's midsection, pushing him out of the window.

"Not again! Loki!" Tony shouted as he dangled from the ledge.

"It was an accident this time!" Loki shouted back afraid out of his mind. The others rushed out of the living room Steve getting there first, his eyes wide with fright. He extended his hand and Tony just looked at if before he pulled himself up.

"I don't need your help Cap. You've made me do enough pull-ups to haul my own weight just fine." Tony said shaking himself off. The rest of the team visibly relaxed.

"Yes well it was just refl-

But before he could finish, another rouge part of the robot flew straight into Steve's back pushing his extended left hand into Tony's shielding right hand pushing them both out of the window. Steve grabbed the ledge in the last possible second pulling Tony up into his arms and then vaulting them into the building.

"That's it! Loki if you sneeze one more time! I swear!" Tony shouted to the flustered Asgardian.

"Sorry Young Stark, I'll try to keep my expulsions to myself." Loki apologized.

"Sneezes Loki, they are called sneezes." Tony sighed out noticing something was off.

"Um… Cap, you can let go of my hand now?" Tony said trying to free his hand from Steve's iron grip.

"Was kinda' hoping you'd let go of mine?" Steve asked as well shaking their hands… neither hand would fall.

"Um… that's really funny Steve, you holding my hand and all, but you really should let go _now_." Tony said urgently.

"Yes, Tony because I would _love _to be stuck with you." Steve said sarcastically, he was trying to pry his hand off Tony's so he missed the kicked-puppy look that crossed Tony's face.

"Yes, because who would want to be stuck with me." Tony said his tone steely and his expression… stony*.

"Ah, Tony, I didn't mean it like that." Steve said letting their clasped hands fall.

"Oh dear." Loki spoke. He had hidden behind the crowd of confused Avengers and now they parted like the Red Sea.

"What do you mean by 'oh dear'?" Tony asked his cold gaze gliding over to where Loki stood.

"Well remember what Thor had said about my magic having free reign, this is what he meant." Loki said cowering underneath Tony's, and now the rest of the Avengers, gaze.

"Well undo it!" Tony snapped holding his encased hand for Loki to see.

"Well…"

"Well _what_, Loki, I do not have much patience left for you, either undo it or you're out." Tony threatened.

"I-I can't!" Loki retorted letting his many comforters fall. He held his chin high against the fear; remember he's a Prince from _both _his bloodlines.

"What-

"I cannot undo this spell, one I am in no condition to, I would probably only make it worse, and two, this spell cannot be undone once casted. It only has one solution, and I'm pretty sure you two don't want to know it." Loki interrupted, the tension in the air tangible enough to eat.

"I'll do anything to get out of this situation right now." Tony said, to this Loki laughed dryly his eyes glimmering with amethyst, the anxiety he was feeling didn't help his inner turmoil and the headache had returned with a vengeance.

"Yes, I'm sure _you_ would but I highly doubt _he _will." Loki finished after he was done laughing. At that moment Thor decided to appear (this time teleporting _outside_ and taking the elevator up, like a regular human being).

"Greetings comrades! Loki, how are you faring?" Thor asked his brother holding his pale hands in his own strong ones.

"Soon to be dead." Tony gritted out.

"Whatever do you mean?" Thor asked wearily.

"My magic cast a Latching Spell on those two; it was an accident by the way." Loki rushed out glad for once he had a big brother to protect him.

"Not again." Thor groaned rubbing his temples.

"What do you mean by _not again_? Has this happened before?" Steve (he'd been silent for a long time) asked.

"Yes, there is a myth concerning Phineas and Jonah. Maybe I could retell it later, but right now we need to find _another _way to fix this." Thor said, sighing heavily. The last time this had happened they had been adolescents.

"Wait, Loki still hasn't told us the method for releasing our hands, says we can't handle it." Tony reminded.

"And he is correct-

"Like always-

"_Anyways_, I should consult Frigga; she knows plenty on battle spells." Thor mused out loud.

"How is _this_- Tony held up their hands- a battle spell?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Well think about it Stark, if two people are connected and don't have the use of one hand, plus they can't move on their own accord, it leaves the individual at a great disadvantage." Barton piped in.

"I said if Loki would get in the way of our Avenging he _wouldn't be able to stay_, you heard me Thor." Tony reminded, his head throbbing with the tell-tale sign of a head ache coming on.

"I understand Young Stark, but this was purely an accident, Loki did not intentionally cast the spell. It would not be to his advantage to do so." Thor retorted, always the one to defend his brother 'til the last possible second.

"I don't care, tell me what the password is, undo the spell, or _get out!_" Tony shouted, his chest heaved up and down, the many different emotions in his head becoming too insolent to contain.

"Love." Loki replied coolly.

"_What_?" Tony and Steve asked in unison.

"Love, you two would have to fall in love and _make _love in order to undo the spell. While I was creating the spell I was thinking of what two males wouldn't ever do in the middle of battle, or what two _enemies_ would never do period. That seemed like a perfect answer, I do apologize for my magic's indecency and my adolescent mind at the time of creating the spell." Loki elaborated noticing the panicked way Tony and Steve were looking at each other.

"You're right; we wouldn't be able to take it." Steve said barely loud enough for all of them to hear.

"NO! No, no, no, no, no, no. I-I'll find a way to detach our hands, I made my arc reactor in a fucking _cave_ in Afghanistan damn it, I can undo this shit. There is no way in hell that I'm… with… and…" Tony said his voice hysterical; his eyes darted back and forth between all the Avengers and his hand.

"Have fun with that, but just know, that's the only way to undo the spell." Loki said holding his hands in the air in a form of surrender.

"I'll get started on it right now! You'll see… we'll be out of this in no time, right Cap?" Tony asked a crazed look in his eyes. He didn't give Steve a chance to reply before he was rushing out of the room. What he didn't say was how that vault, that had been quietly collecting dust those past few weeks, had suddenly reanimated within his brain and he was fighting with all he had to keep it closed.

* * *

Loki looked at the retreating backs of his two… acquaintances, with something akin to guilt.

"You said there was folklore behind this spell?" Natasha piped in her voice making its way into Loki's thoughts.

"Yes, the story of Phineas and Jonah, they were subjected to Loki's spell when we were younger and ended up similar to Young Stark and Young Rogers." Thor said feeling incredibly old for his age at the moment.

"Expand please, what happened to them?" Bruce spoke for the first time since the incident.

"They ended up falling in love and making it." Thor replied.

"And they were freed?" Barton asked.

"Yes." Loki replied.

"Wow." The other three muttered.

"Wow indeed."

* * *

**And this is it! Will Tony be able to find a solution to the problem? You'll just have to find out. One more thing, if you can find out where I got the names for the intergalactic realms from you get a virtual cookie!**

**Thanks for all who fav. Rev. and most importantly read!**

***Troll Face!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!**

* * *

Tony had been sitting in his seat staring at a blank screen for the past two hours. He was barely breathing and he noticed how Steve wouldn't stop looking at him. If he would just stop looking at him maybe he could _pretend_ this whole thing away.

He'd been making himself sick with the thoughts running through his head. He didn't know how to cope with this.

_How are we going to sleep? How will I be able to walk outside without the press asking questions? How will I be able to drink without having a walking conscience at my side? Oh God how will I go to the bathroom… oh shit, how will we take _showers_?!_

Tony stopped breathing for a couple of seconds, after minute number two the entire workshop started beeping.

"No Jarvis, I'm fine!" Tony shouted at his robotic servant so he would stop the alarm.

"Sorry sir, it was protocol." The butler apologized quietly. Soon after that the others rushed through the door.

"What's wrong?!" Natasha shouted, her gun already swinging around the room.

"Nothing, nothing, I just… stopped breathing for a couple of minutes and Jarvis freaked out." Tony said not meeting the eyes of his fellow Avengers.

"You can say that again, fucking scared me half to death." Barton murmured and lowered his bow.

"Alright guys if you wouldn't min-

_Beep_!

"Jarvis I said I'm-

"No sir, that's the alarm for the Avengers to assemble." Jarvis interrupted kindly.

"Well shit, good thing we're suited up." Barton said, the first to leave the lab, soon the rest of the team departed from the workshop and only Tony and Steve were left.

"Come on." Tony said, dragging the Captain off his chair and towards his suit.

"Um, Tony? I can't really fly so…" Steve reminded as Tony tried to put his glove over his right hand.

"Don't worry Capt'n; this suit is strong enough to lift the both of us." Tony replied. He decided to forget about his right glove and yanked it off the suit.

"Let's go get your shield." Were Tony's last words before the faceplate came down.

* * *

"Can someone please explain what the _fuck_ these two assholes were doing out there?" Fury demanded. His rage was so tangible you could grasp it in your hand, clone it, and make a mini-Fury.

When no one answered he pulled a knife out and slammed it into the table making the rest flinch.

"Well?" Fury asked his one eye sweeping over the crew, purposefully ignoring the two _idiots _who were _still_ holding hands.

All eyes landed on Thor and then shifted to Steve and Tony.

"Thor?" Fury asked the Asgardian Prince. Thor swallowed through the lump in his throat, how could he explain to the Director that this was all an accident and that his brother never meant any harm by it? He'd been travelling back and forth, consulting his mother. He even traveled to the land of the dead to consult Astra, but it was all in vain. He couldn't find a solution to this problem.

"Fury sir, it was-

"My fault." Thor finished quickly; he shot Steve a look that told him to keep quiet.

"Expand." Fury directed curtly.

"You see, I was demonstrating how Mjolrnir worked when she caught a stray piece of cosmic energy and shot out a bolt hitting Young Stark and Young Rogers, the electric field drew them together and froze their hands in place." Thor explained wishing for once that he had his brother's ability to lie.

"Is that true Stark? Can that _actually_ happen?" Fury asked more confused than angry.

"I did it when I was rescuing the passengers from the plane all those months ago." Tony said innocently.

"Hmph, when does it wear off?" Fury asked the team as a whole.

"We don't know." Bruce replied tiredly, today had been a particularly stressful day. He'd had to catch the circus duo from the sky on multiple occasions.

"Well until _you_- he pointed his finger at Stark- can find a cure for _this_- he pointed at their clasped hands- you _two_ will stay out of future battles. Do I make myself clear?" Fury asked.

"But sir-

"There is no room for argument Captain." Fury cut him off. He noticed the crestfallen look that crossed Steve's face and felt a little bad, it's not like he asked for any of this.

"Yes sir." Steve acquiesced.

"Meeting dismissed." Fury sighed out, rubbing his temples. In the back of his mind he wondered how this not-so-little mishap would end.

* * *

"You better thank your big brother for saving your sick ass." Was the first thing Tony told Loki as he entered the threshold of the common room.

"Pardon?" Loki asked keeping his distance. He knew he was still in a shit-ton of trouble with Tony so he treaded lightly.

"He took the blame for this." Tony elaborated, holding his clasped hand up so Loki could admire his mistake.

"Thor… you didn't have to." Loki said softly to his brother.

"Don't worry about it Loki, I wouldn't sacrifice you to the wolves." Thor sighed heavily.

"Thanks… I suppose, so what does this mean?" Loki asked no one in particular.

"It means that Steve and I can't do our crime fighting." Tony explained venomously, he looked at the rest of the team and then back at the sick prince.

"And if you're worried about me kicking you out you can stop. I won't, at least not for now. I'd rather you be here where we can keep a close eye on you than somewhere else causing trouble for anyone else. And get a scarf damn it!" Tony said walking out of the room Steve in tow, it's not like he had a choice anyways.

"Today has been a hectic day don't you think?" Tony asked Steve as they settled into the couch inside his lab.

"I know you're trying to avoid addressing the very important questions we both need to ask." Steve said seeing straight through Tony's bullshit.

"I know." Tony sighed running his free hand through his hair.

"How will we sleep?" Steve asked addressing the lighter questions first; he'd get to the heavy duty ones in a little bit.

"On a bed?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"Tony."

"Yeah, sorry. Well we'll just move your things to my suite, you can sleep in my bed, and I assure you it is big enough. You can fit five people on it and still have space to move around." Tony said.

Steve tried not to imagine why someone like him would have the need for such a large bed.

"Why do _I_ have to move?" Steve asked childishly.

"Because I own the place." Tony replied with a raised eyebrow.

"But-

"If you want us to move to a completely different suite I can arrange it, but stop complaining about who's moving who, I don't like sharing my bedroom with other people either!" Tony snapped, balling both his hands into fists consequently squeezing Steve's hand.

"That's funny coming from you." Steve replied coldly.

"You wanna go Mr. I've-been-a-virgin-for-my-entire-life!" Tony shouted trying to yank his hand free, which of course, he couldn't and that only managed to get him angrier.

"Well at least I don't go f-_fuck _everything with legs!" Steve retorted tripping over the foul word.

"Well I wouldn't fuck you even if you were the last _thing_ on earth!" Tony shouted shoving Steve roughly.

"Well isn't that ironic? Seeing as you have to do so in order to get us out of this mess!" Steve exclaimed with a hysterical laugh.

"Maybe we should get it over with! I can't stand being around you any longer, you make my blood boil!" Tony gritted out his nails dinging into two separate palms.

"Likewise." Steve muttered darkly.

They sat as far away from each other as they could in the small space provided by the love seat. They were both steaming and red in the face.

Tony was the first to relax, loosening his death grip. He sighed and turned his body so he could look at Steve directly. The other turned his head halfway.

"I'm sorry; I kind of took offence in what you said. I don't like to be reminded of my mistakes by other people." Tony apologized his eyes looking everywhere but at Steve.

"I'm sorry too; I shouldn't have accused you without knowing the facts. I assume too much." Steve apologized as well.

"Isn't that a problem for everyone?" Tony asked a small smile playing on his lips.

"Alright, I'll move in with you. But what about the bathroom, how will we do that?" Steve asked turning his entire body so he could address Tony better.

"I have an idea for the bathroom. We could make a swivel toilet and a door with a hole in the center, one of us could stand outside while the other finishes his business." Tony said already forming the blueprint in his head.

"Where would we put that bathroom?" Steve asked.

"One down here and another in my bedroom." Tony replied lightly.

"What about in the workout room?" Steve asked.

"Why would I put one in there?" Tony asked as he rose to get a clear tablet and a stencil where he could sketch the plans for the bathroom.

"Because I go there every day." Steve replied slowly, he could feel another argument coming on.

"Oh no, I spend all my time down here in the lab, we are _not_ going to work out." Tony said, putting the tablet down.

"Don't you think that's a bit selfish? I'm not going to sacrifice all my time for you; you have to give some up as well." Steve said hotly.

"Well tough luck, you just got paired with the most selfish human being in the entire globe." Tony said crossing his arm under his chest.

"Or I could simply throw you over my shoulder and carry you the entire time, a double workout of sorts." Steve said nonchalantly.

"You wouldn't." Tony said wearily.

"Either create a schedule that works for the both of us, or you'll be subjected to being carried over my shoulder like a log every day." Steve said seriously.

"I guess I could... amend my ways." Tony replied his heart hammering like a mockingbird in a cage.

"Good." Steve said with feigned sweetness, "now, what about showers?" Steve asked deciding to get the last question over with.

"We take turns and hold hands through the crack in the shower curtain, simple." Tony replied. He tried to ignore that tight feeling in his gut as he imagined what taking a shower _together_ would feel like.

"I suppose that's it then, until you can find a cure to this mess (one that would not require us to engage in any physical activity) that is." Steve said leaning his head on the cushion.

"Joy." Tony replied dryly.

* * *

"Are you done yet?" Tony asked Steve, he was currently leaning on the railing of the treadmill as Steve ran at a speed of 8 mph. He called it "warm-up", he did that for twenty minutes and then he would crank up the heat and run at 15mph. Tony didn't even _know_ his treadmill went that fast.

"You've asked that question ten times already." Steve replied evenly, as if he wasn't going at an inhuman speed.

Two weeks ago, it shocked the shit out of Tony that the man could run that fast. Right now, it just annoyed him.

"Yeah, and I'm going to keep asking you until you finish." Tony said, noticing how drenched Steve's hair was. Sweat was pouring off him like waterfalls; it was sort of… exciting.

"You know… if you worked out as well the time would go faster." Steve reminded increasing the speed on the treadmill.

"Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I prefer to keep my body in shape with _other_ methods." Tony joked as he winked at Steve. The other male faltered a bit, almost face planting on the treadmill.

"Oh… stop it… would you?" Steve complained as Tony laughed.

"Can we finish early today? I'll do anything to get out of the gym." Tony begged. They had indeed worked out a schedule. They would both wake up at 7:30 and go to bet at 11:00 (well Tony broke that rule every night, by the time the clock rolled around to 2:00 am he realized Steve had fallen asleep on his lab table… again). They showered twice, three when Cap worked out; they ate at the same time, and circulated their bathroom cycles accordingly. From 8:30am to 10:30am Steve would work out. Then if Tony felt like it (which he almost always did) they would go to the lab for four hours, stopping for lunch and the occasional TV break. Then from 3:30pm until 5:30pm every-other-day Steve would work out his last two hours. From there they ate dinner and spent the rest of the time in Tony's lab.

It took about a week to get into the routine, and that is not to say that Tony and Steve haven't had problems, sometimes they argued about the simplest of things, other times they talked about nothing in particular, and very rarely they would disregard the schedule completely and spend all day watching television.

"Anything you say?" Steve asked slowing the treadmill down to a light jog (5mph).

"Well almost anything, what do you want?" Tony asked wearily.

"Hmm…" Steve hummed stopping the machine all together. "Well my bikes been acting strange lately, was wondering if maybe you'd take a look at it?" Steve asked grabbing a bottle of water and drinking the whole thing in one gulp.

"That's it? Alright then let's get out of here!" Tony said dragging a protesting Steve out the door, but before he could cross the threshold he was stopped.

"What is it?" Tony asked annoyed.

"I need to take a shower." Steve reminded running his free hand over his wet locks for emphasis.

"No you don't, if I'm going to fix your bike now we might as well kill two birds with one stone and take a shower at the same time… I mean alternating at the same time." Tony amended his cheeks flushing marginally.

"Alright then. I'll lead the way." Steve replied trying to ignore his thoughts. They would be the death of him.

* * *

"There, you were missing a couple of bolts and the brakes were loose, also the gas was slowly leaking into the back tires adding to the extra speed." Tony said wiping the sweat from his brow inadvertently messing it up with a bit of grease.

"Thanks, can I try her out?" Steve asked already approaching his bike.

"Her?" Tony asked noticing how Steve's cheeks flushed red.

"I named her after my friend Peggy, she and my best friend… Bucky, were a huge support back in the war, if it weren't for them my so called legacy would have never occurred." Steve said reminiscing.

"Oh, I guess it makes sense, I named Jarvis after the man who cared for me back when I was a child. It's like I'm keeping his memory alive by reminding myself about him every time I speak with Jarvis." Tony said moving closer as Steve mounted the bike.

Steve nodded and started the bike, an impish smile on his face as his ears were delighted with the clear sound of a working bike.

"Hop on Tony." Steve said scooting backwards so Tony could sit.

"Um, no thanks. Besides how would you ride it with only one hand?" Tony asked warily.

"Just get on and find out." Steve countered patting the seat of his bike. Tony sighed and hopped on noticing just how close their bodies were, Steve brought his arm around and pulled Tony even closer to his chest. Before Tony could protest they were zooming through the spiral roadway Tony kept inside his lab just in case he needed to work out the kinks in his armor.

"Cap, p-please slow down!" Tony squealed as they just barely missed the wall. They were totally closing in on eighty, minimum.

"Slow down?" Steve chuckled lightly, "we're barely moving." Steve said increasing the speed.

"Steeve! Pleeease stop!" Tony pleaded as they approached 120mph, never one to actually _feel_ the speed he went in his Iron Man suit, he was not accustomed to such high speeds.

"Fine, I'll slow down." Steve acquiesced going back to eighty.

"How is this slowing down?!" Tony shrieked as they approached the exit of the long tunnel. It felt as if they were leaving the sound waves behind because he could barely hear the roar of the fixed engine.

Steve rolled his eyes and accelerated as he left the building. He took a road that he knew would be fairly empty, and slowed down a bit.

"Isn't it nice outside?" Steve asked staring at the scenery.

"Nice? Everything is just a blur to me." Tony mumbled getting over his momentary fright.

"Oh? I guess the Serum helped me visualize things at high speeds then." Steve mused as he slowed down ten miles so Tony could take a look at the outskirts of New York.

"Is that why you don't notice how fast you're going?" Tony asked turning his head a bit to look at Steve; he didn't realize how close they actually were until their noses touched. They sat there frozen for a second until they heard the tell-tale sign of a cop car approaching.

"What are you doing? Speed up, speed up!" Tony shouted as he noticed Steve was slowing down to a crawl.

"Oh now you want me to speed up." Steve said stopping the bike.

"Do you even _have_ your license?" Tony asked noticing the guilty look Steve shot him.

"This is going to cost me isn't it?" Tony sighed as they heard the police officer close the door and approach them.

"Do you know how fast you two wer-

The female officer (her name was Melinda Bane) choked on her question as she noticed who the two speeders were.

Steve and Tony waved at her sheepishly.

"M-Mr. Stark, C-Captain Rogers h-hi, I'm a _huge_ fan! This is such an honor! I-I'm so sorry I didn't know." Ms. Bane exclaimed her eyes wide with surprise.

"No problem." Tony said slyly while Steve nodded.

"I'll just pretend that this never happened." She said as she started walking backwards.

"Fine with m-

"No, Officer Bines please no special treatment. I broke the law and I should be subjected to punishment just like everyone else." Steve said stopping the officer who just melted in her boots.

"Steve, what the _fuck_ are you doing?" Tony hissed.

"We shouldn't get special treatment just because we save New York every once in a while." Steve said seriously.

"What! That is _exactly_ why we should get special treatment! Ignore him Miss he's suffering from Idiot's disease." Tony said smiling sweetly at the police officer.

"How about this, I take you two out for breakfast, you Mr. Stark pay in the amount of the fine, and you both ride in the back of the cop car." Ms. Bane said excitedly.

"What about my bike?" Steve asked shutting Peggy off.

"Don't worry, I'll send Jarvis to come get it." Tony said. And so they dismounted, both still in their working clothes. They were led to the back of the cop car and as they drove away Steve could see Tony's suit pick his bike up and fly away.

Ms. Bane took them to a nearby diner and ushered them into a booth near the back.

"This is so exciting guys, thank you, I won't ever forget this day." She gushed taking her cop hat off and letting her hair free flow, she had gorgeous brown locks that reached halfway down her back.

"I still think we should get a tick-

"Shut _up_ Steve." Tony said smiling at the Lady cop.

"Hello everyone, my name is Maggie, welcome to the 90's Joint, would any of you be interested in the Chef's Special?" Maggie asked sweetly. She was a fairly sized female with glasses; her green eyes shone with enthusiasm, and whether it was fake or not didn't matter because Tony couldn't tell.

"Oh you know what I want Maggie, but these two gentlemen might be interested." Ms. Bane replied bringing the other two males into scope.

"Of course, would any of you two be-

Maggie stopped talking immediately her eyes bulging out of her head. She looked at Ms. Bane who just nodded quickly.

"-interested in the Chef's Special?" Maggie asked her voice increasing in pitch as she tried in vain to control her excitement.

"That would be delightful, right Tony?" Steve said looking at Tony for approval; he just nodded picking up the menu.

"W-what would you like to drink?" Maggie asked her hands shaking slightly.

"Milk will be fine." Steve said.

"_Milk_?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Black coffee please, and you can just leave the pot on the table, also bring another canister of sugar, this won't be enough." Tony said lightly.

"Right away Sirs, Miss." Maggie left with a skip in her step.

"I do hope I don't sound rude asking but… why are you two holding hands?" Ms. Bane asked after their drinks arrived.

"See, we're hopelessly in love- Steve choked on his milk and looked at Tony strangely- and Stevie here wanted to ride his bike all the way to Las Vegas so we could get married without any problems. I told him it was a lost cause that we should move to Canada instead, that and it was closer than Nevada. I also tried to explain to him that it was legal in New York but he wouldn't believe me." Tony sighed, out leaning his head on Steve's shoulder.

"Tony what the-

"Is it true?" Ms. Bane asked her pupils dilating.

"No, it was a joke." Tony replied worriedly.

"Oh." Ms. Bane said disappointment coating her voice.

"_Officer Anthony come through, call code 67230-_

Ms. Bane lowered the volume on her radio and apologized for the mishap.

"I do hope I'm not asking for much if I ask for an autograph." Ms. Bane said already holding her pad and pen under the table.

"No, not at all." Tony said kindly. He finished writing his little paragraph when the food arrived. It's a damn good thing we was ambidextrous (though he preferred his right hand better, doing anything with his left felt like he was doing it with a stranger).

"Here Steve." Tony said as he dug into his food. Tony was halfway done when he noticed Steve was still writing.

"What are you doing?" Tony asked swallowing the last bit of eggs in his mouth.

"Drawing a picture, I didn't know what to write so I drew all three of us together." Steve said shyly.

"I'm almost done with it." He whispered. He handed it quickly to Ms. Bane hoping she would like it.

"I'm never throwing this pad away, this is amazing!" She exclaimed holding the pad closely to her chest.

"Thanks." Steve said digging into his food.

* * *

"Here you are you two; just know that next time I won't let you off that easily." Ms. Bane warned jokingly. The two latched individuals waved goodbye and proceeded to walk into the building.

"That was totally your fault." Tony teased and swatted Steve playfully on the bicep.

"No~ if you hadn't asked to leave the gym early none of this would have happened." Steve replied pushing Tony lightly.

"No, if you didn't have such a rigorous workout schedule then I wouldn't need to get out of the gym." Tony said shoving Steve. This was starting to escalate quickly.

"No, if you worked out more often rather than lazed around doing _nothing _all day then maybe it wouldn't seem as if I were dragging you anywhere." Steve said his tone serious.

"Well maybe I would go to the gym more often if it was fun." Tony retorted stepping closer to intimidate Steve, but since he was about a half a head shorter it really didn't work.

"Working out _is_ fun, not to mention healthy, a word that's not even in your vocabulary." Steve said glaring into Tony's brown eyes.

"Hot, steamy sex is also healthy, or haven't you read _Cosmopolitan_?" Tony said. To this, Steve pushed Tony into the nearest wall.

"Could you _stop_ being so vulgar for at least a day. Not everything revolves around sex." Steve gritted out.

"_Fuck off."_ Tony whispered hotly against Steve's ear making him shiver slightly.

"You're impossible!" Steve exclaimed willing his blush away and other more, ehem, _harder_ areas to calm down.

"That's the Stark way." Tony said with a shit-eating grin.

"Let's go take a shower." Steve said.

"Oh kinky, will we wash each other off and then some?" Seriously, Steve kinda walked right into that one.

Steve slapped his forehead and dragged his hand down his face.

"I might as well tape my mouth shut." Steve gritted out.

"Ooh, bondage, may I use a whip?" Tony asked excitedly. At that same moment Loki decided to walk in, he dropped his glass of water on the floor when he heard what Tony said.

"It's not… he's just being and ass." Steve tried to explain.

"Bet you'd want to tap that ass though." Tony teased earning an eye twitch from Steve.

Loki's lips slowly turned upwards until he looked like the Cheshire cat from _Alice in Wonderland_.

"Whatever you're thinking stop." Steve ordered.

"Whatever do you mean?" Loki asked innocently the grin never leaving his lips.

"There's nothing going on between Stark and me."

"Oh you wound me so! After the many promises you made to me last night under the moonlight!" Tony exclaimed dramatically, clutching his arc reactor, "I might as well end my life!" he finished, twisting the contraption and pulling it free from his chest.

"Tony!" Steve shouted his eyes going wide.

"Relax; I have to do this every couple of months when I upgrade the reactor." Tony said twisting the reactor back into his chest.

"Don't _ever_ do that again." Steve sighed out and almost choked on his next breath when Tony pulled it free once again.

"Don't… tell me… what to… do." Tony said, struggling to catch his breath.

"Please Tony, stop playing around." Steve asked urgently, Tony glared at him for a second longer and then returned the piece of metal into his chest. He took a deep, shuddering breath as the pain subsided.

"Thank you." Steve sighed out as he noticed Tony's skin color returned to normal.

Tony rolled his eyes and fallowed Steve into their bedroom.

"I do wonder what will become of those two." Loki asked himself as he scooped up the fallen cup. He still had a week left of his sick magic and then he could return ho- to Asgard. But did he want to return? He actually enjoyed his stay at Stark Tower. Sure it lacked the servants ready to care for his every need, but because of that, he didn't have thousands of eyes on his back as he walked around (sort of like a paradox really) albeit he did have two suspicious ones following his every trail when they thought he didn't know or notice.

Besides, he had bigger things to worry about. Well _one_ big and muscular and blonde thing. Ever since finding out his true heritage and his release from the Other's control he'd been noticing a few things he wish he hadn't.

One, everyone had pheromones. It took him a while to understand that simple fact. Much like his magic, it expelled on its own will, the more attracted you are to a person the more pheromones you release to catch that persons attention. Of course humans have very dull senses so they barely get a taste of what Loki is constantly feasting on. That's what he had noticed between Young Stark and Young Rogers, the volume of pheromones was almost blinding. To him however, they felt like cool grass through his fingers, a pleasant sensation. He knew they weren't attracted to him because no mating bells started ringing.

Two, the only reason he even _knew_ this was because it was nearing Jotunheim's mating season. And this is where his problem really begins.

He didn't notice it much before because of his- because of Odin's spell, it blocked his inner Frost Giant (though he's probably the only human sized giant) from showing itself. However, because the Tesseract uncovered his true nature it also allowed him to experience what he normally would have, had he been raised with Frost Giants.

That being said, he started noticing things, odd things, strange things, _exciting_ things.

His brother was attracted to him, and it scared him.

He didn't know when it started and he didn't know why, he just knew that it was there, ever present, and ever intoxicating. The amount of love and affection his brother had for him was overwhelming.

It made him melt.

Every time they locked eyes, Loki could feel a spark, every time Thor patted his head; it sent a shiver down his spine. It was driving him insane! Why did Thor feel this way?

He was afraid to find out if he felt the same way too.

So yes, his brother's pheromones affected him greatly, it drew him in like a moth to a flame, he worried constantly when Thor was away, and was relieved when he came back and his love for him was still intact. He was more afraid of his emotions dissipating than them actually being there. As long as his brother loved him he would one day be able to forgive himself.

He entered their shared quarters and breathed in deeply. Though his brother wasn't around his scent still lingered, like settled cologne. It made Loki feel like a dog, sniffing the air every time he was alone.

He, however, forbade himself from entering Thor's bedroom. He knew that if he let his infatuation get the better of him he would surely end up embarrassed. And what if he was wrong? What if the love and affection his brother felt for him was purely familiar?

They've lived together their entire life, which was bound to count for something. So he settled in sitting where Thor normally sat, and passing Thor's bedroom door as often as he could without making a fool of himself.

The mating season, he learnt, lasted for three weeks. It was more than enough time to find a mate, copulate, and begin the process of carrying a child. So soon after his sick magic terminated, he would commence another three weeks of torture. He was sure to resemble a cat in heat for the next couple of days.

He'd also heard that the last few days were the worst for all of those who hadn't found a mate. The need to become one with someone would be so strong that it didn't matter what gender the partner was, they would lay with them in a drop of a hat.

Loki pulled himself out of his thoughts as Thor walked into the room, holding a Midgardian jacket over his shoulder. His brother had taken a habit in wearing Midgardian street clothes when he was off duty, Loki didn't care much for them but they were aesthetically pleasing on his brother.

"Loki." Thor greeted placing Mjolrnir on the ground and his jacket over a chair.

"Thor." Loki replied completely ignoring his brother on the outside.

"I spent the morning with Lady Foster, she's incredibly intelligent, she could probably battle Young Stark's mind." Thor said nonchalantly.

"You've been spending a lot of time with her lately; do you plan to make her your queen?" Loki asked bitterly. He could smell her on him and it made him sick, he also started to panic a little, the volume of affection had decreased marginally, if he let this go on she will eventually steal Thor away from him.

But why did it matter? It's not like Loki was showing any affection in return, of course he would lose any interest he previously had on him.

"Possibly." Thor murmured sitting down next to his brother. Loki twitched slightly.

"Well good luck on your endeavors." Loki said curtly, rising from the sofa. He could only stay so close before he became intoxicated with the aroma.

"No sit." Thor ordered pulling Loki back down, "you seem tense, I understand you still have one more week?" Thor asked moving Loki's ponytail to the side and massaging his shoulders. Loki tensed even further, Thor's strong fingers metaphorically trapping him.

"Y-yes, I can cast small spells now without them overreacting." Loki replied softly. Against his will he started relaxing into Thor's soothing motions.

"Fantastic." Thor congratulated, moving closer to unbutton Loki's thick Asgardian clothing. Loki was too afraid (or excited) to object.

They stayed silent as Thor continued his ministrations, his hands never ventured lower than his middle back. Loki was both thankful and disappointed for that.

"There, I suppose your back feels better now." Thor said patting Loki's head, he walked towards his room and shut the door quickly.

"Thor." Loki whispered wantonly.

"Loki… damn it." Thor sighed as he slid down the door and held his head in his hands.

* * *

**Funny how I write so much and **_**nothing **_**happens! But I can't do anymore I'm literally scrambling for something to write and drawing up blank. Sorry if this chapter blows, or just makes no sense. **

**Regardless, thanks for reading, reviewing, faving, etc. It means the world to me. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone, another week another entry! Enjoy.**

**Note: Thank you very much **_**And Iam **_**for helping me catch that little, yet, very important plot question. I owe you one :) **

* * *

_Three Days Ago_

"Brucieee~"

"…"

"Bruciee~"

"… Clint?" Bruce finally replied, after looking up from his work at the somewhat intoxicated, if not flat out drunk, archer.

"Hey, how 'bout, you and me, breakfast *_hiccup_* now?" Clint asked leaning against Tony's desk, on his side of the room, and ungraciously tipping a pile of books over.

"Clint, it's 11 o'clock." Bruce reminded gently and resumed his original position.

"Yeah, so brunch then? Everyone loves brunch, right?" Clint asked hopefully. He crept his way to Bruce, leaning over his shoulder to stare at the blurry words (or at least blurry in his perspective).

"Clint, I am not going out with you." Bruce said, with a finite tone in his voice.

"Who said anything about going out? It's just brunch man." Clint said ignoring the sudden pang in his heart.

"Brunch, lunch, dinner, whatever. I'm not going, so you can stop now. Besides, I have a lot of work to do." And with that, Clint was dismissed.

* * *

_Present_

"Tony, you've been staring at the screen for three _hours_ now, can you _please_ tell me what you're thinking?" Steve asked, twirling a pencil in his hands with ludicrous speed. The only reason they were downstairs so early in the morning was because Tony had insisted he had found a perfect solution, and then he said he lost it. Lo and behold, three hours later proved rotten.*

"Shh… I'm thinking." Tony whispered, his eyes never leaving the blank screen.

"Daydreaming more like." Steve murmured. He was just angry he didn't get his full eight hours of beauty sleep.

A couple of seconds later Tony's frozen appearance melted, and he reanimated.

"I got it." He said, almost inaudibly.

"Do you now?" Steve asked sarcastically, a couple of weeks attached to Tony would do that to you.

"Yes, now grab that pad and start drawing." Tony ordered, he decided to ignore the sarcasm… for now.

"Umm… sorry?" Steve asked confused, though he did as he was told.

"I have to create a device, the idea is in my head but it's too rotund, you're better with globular shapes than I am so here- he placed their interlaced fingers on display- draw our hands on the pad." Tony explained. Steve sighed and began the sketch.

"You know, I don't know how this is going to help anything." Steve said offhandedly as he erased a line he couldn't get quite right.

"You don't have to be perfect, Leonardo; though I will admit, you're an excellent artist. Now draw our hands encased in something gooey." Tony said already ten steps ahead.

"What?" Steve asked, adorably confused.

"Imagine we just shoved our hands into a pile of Jell-O." Tony elaborated exasperatedly.

"Why would we do that?" Steve asked scratching his head, his entire face twisted in confusion.

"Because we had a momentary lapse of judgment, now draw it, _please_." Tony asked, already starting to doubt the idea's effectiveness.

"What color is the Jell-O?" Steve asked his poker face in place, though Tony could still see the grin in his eyes. Okay, so now he was just fucking with him.

"Green, with sprinkles on the top, the flavor is lime, and Natasha made it, happy now?" Tony asked evenly.

"Why Natasha?" Steve asked.

"Steve, do you want to get out of this or not?" Tony asked, finally reaching his boiling point.

"Sorry, yeah, I'm done." Steve sobered up and began imagining their hands immersed in Jell-O. A gelatin structure he discovered a couple of months ago (that you _eat_), it was actually water at first and then it _hardened_ into a _solid_ in the _fridge_. That simple fact had blown his mind, along with the onion chopper thing.

"There." Steve said placing the pencil down, wondering how their hands in goo would help anything, and if Tony had finally lost all the loose screws in his head.

"Now harden it, imagine it was plastic, rather than gelatin, and erase the excess marks, make sure we have enough space around though, about an inch or so." Tony ordered again, noticing how quickly the plan was falling into place. If this actually worked, they could be out of it in a month, which is better than say, never, because they were never going to do such a thing…

He shouldn't even think of the slightest possibility that they might.

"Tony, I still don't see how having our hands in some hard, gelatinous plastic will help our situation, soothing as it may be." Steve said a tone of regret in his voice. He had to have faith in Tony, but he really didn't know where the crazed engineer was going with this.

"Trust me in this will you? Here is a microscope, you see this midsection? That's where you place the glass slides, and these revolver thingies? They are magnifiers. I want you to draw this microscope around this section- he pointed at the hands on the page- do a couple of sketches if you have to." Tony said. He waited patiently as Steve found his way around the microscope.

The sun was creeping up slowly when the fourth sketch was finished, not a bolt out of place.

"Here, I think this should do." Steve said, handing Tony the finished product.

"Perfect, Jarvis scan and organize please." Tony said as they got to work.

"Right away sir."

* * *

"Bruce!" Tony exclaimed loudly as he entered the common lab. Steve in tow (not that he had a choice), an angry expression on his face, he was slowly steaming as Tony started to ramble.

"Brucie, baby, I need your help, this _outstanding individual_- you could actually see the sarcasm dripping off Tony's mouth- doesn't know the difference between a phillips and a flathead!" Tony exclaimed throwing his movable hand into the air, the papers still gripped tightly in his hands.

"Well so-_rry_, if I was in the middle of a _war_ when they were teaching _Tools 101_." Steve replied condescendingly.

"Wait a minute, I'm confused, what?" Bruce asked adorably, his brown eyes shining with misunderstanding.

"Here, this should explain everything." Tony said handing Bruce the papers, he'd calmed down, at least marginally.

"Oh I see, what are you naming it?" Bruce asked, looking at Tony expectantly.

"_Carpalfier Mark I._ There'll only be one mark of course." Tony replied with an air of superiority.

Bruce snorted and shook his head.

"Let's get started then." He replied, shutting down his laptop and clearing a desk so they could work on the scope.

* * *

"Just one more screw and it'll be done." Tony said then snickered, _that's what _she_ said._

"Glad I could be of some use." Bruce said stepping away to admire their handiwork.

"Are you kidding Brucie? You did most of the work, besides microscopes are your forte." Tony said wiping his hands on his lab coat.

"It was your ide-

He was cut off by the sudden entrance of a very determined archer.

You would think Clint would walk directly to Bruce and throw in his two cents, but no… he strode right past him, took Tony by the collar, and kissed him.

To say the three other males were shocked would be an understatement.

Tony gasped and Clint took that opportunity to shove his tongue deep within Tony's throat, his dexterous muscle licked the roof of Tony's mouth and deepened the kiss by applying more force.

"How 'bout you and me go make the walls vibrate?" Clint asked promiscuously, suggestively pulling at Tony's lab coat.

The doors to the lab closed brusquely, indicating the departure of a certain individual. At that, Clint dropped the act and wiped his hand down his face.

"As much as I enjoy kissing, truly, I find the activity quite wonderful really… what the _fuck _where you thinking?!" Tony shouted at Clint, his entire physique angled just so he would look more menacing. Clint had pulled a fast one, on all of them.

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking, and Natasha wouldn't do it, and I just wanted to make him jealous and-

"Let me stop you right there, 'cause you're rambling, and the only person allowed ramble in my presence is me. Organize your thoughts and address them clearly." Tony instructed the disgruntled archer.

"I was trying to make Bruce jealous okay, he… I tried a couple of days ago to ask him out, and he shot me down, a-and I wanted to see if it was because he had no feelings for me, or something else." Clint said, feeling worse for wear.

While Tony contemplated this, Steve stood there his heart just barely calming down. If there had been something going on between Clint and Tony, he would have known. He's been attached to the man for almost a month now! To say he was jealous would not cover it, a couple more seconds and he would have ripped his fellow teammate in half, he seriously wished he had the freedom Bruce had right now to release some energy, anger, and jealousy.

"You said you asked Natasha?" Tony asked cautiously.

"Oh, yeah, asked if she could pretend to be my girlfriend, she called me stupid then slammed the door in my face. After a couple of minutes she reopened it and explained to me the feelings I was too blind to see, she said to try and 'talk it out,' not make him jealous. Then she slammed the door in my face again." Clint explained not really able to look at Tony.

"Well she's right." Tony… just keep rubbing salt on the wound would ya'?

"I know she's right, dammit! I just… I just don't know." Clint snapped, he sat on a nearby chair and rested his head in his arms.

"Didn't you tell me a couple of weeks ago that you felt absolutely nothing for Bruce?" Tony asked suspiciously.

"I lied, same as you are lying to-

"So why me? Why not Captain, or even Thor, hell I think maybe Loki would do." Tony interrupted quickly; he really did _not_ want to go there.

"Seriously Tony, _Loki_, that man has more wrong with him than any of us combined, Thor wouldn't understand, and Captain… well he's too innocent, he also has no ties to Bruce like you do, that, and I wouldn't want to be the one to steal his first kiss." Clint explained, adding the last part for his benefit.

"What do you mean 'first kiss,' you've at least gone first base right?" Tony asked, shifting his attention to the reddening Captain.

"No?" Tony asked again in disbelief, virtually shocked. Why hadn't someone taken the opportunity to treat those lips to a wonderful two-lipped massage?

"Can we please not discuss this right no-

A garish roar erupted through the entire building efficiently cutting the Captain off.

"The Avengers alarm didn't ring did it –Tony shook his head- then why is the Hulk loose?" Clint asked shaking his blonde head.

"Sir, the Hulk is in the chamber, should I begin the tests?" Jarvis's ever calm voice asked over the intercom.

"_Tests_?" Clint asked suspiciously, he narrowed his eyes at Tony who just rolled his.

"Relax _Katniss_, I'm testing the glass not the Hulk, don't think of me as another Fury for doing so, Bruce and I created a substance that should be able to withstand the Hulks fists, I told him if he ever felt like letting off some steam, that he should go there. I told him also that the chamber was one way only. I do hope you memorized that code I gave you a week into the Stark Tower living experience?" Tony asked doubtfully. Clint nodded curtly not caring for the minor details.

"Clint, you should go to him." Tony suggested.

"Are you kidding? I'm the last person he wants to see right now." Clint replied. He was however flattered (in a paradoxical sort of way) that Bruce got jealous enough to transform, granted that wasn't a _good_ thing but still, progress!

"Just do it, the sooner you get this worked out the better for all of us. I do not want _Shield_ to get involved." Tony said, spitting Shield out as if it left a bad taste in his mouth… which it did.

"Alright Tony, if you say so." Clint said leaving a bit hesitantly, before he opened the door he turned around and looked at the two men still standing, watching him.

"Thanks." Clint said softly.

"Don't mention it; by the way, you're an excellent kisser." Tony complimented.

"I know, we should hook up sometime." Clint replied with a wolfish grin, though he didn't mean anything by it.

"No thanks, not again." Tony replied holding his hand up.

And with that, the hopeful archer left the lab and ran to the Hulk.

* * *

_RAWR!_

"H-hey big guy, c-could I talk to Bruce?" Clint asked the being in the chamber.

Another roar told him his answer.

"I know I fucked up Hulk, but, I'm trying to fix things, please let me in buddy." Clint pleaded with the beast.

"Banner… he mad with Cupid and Tin Man, he… not, not want to speak right now." Hulk growled out, his vocabulary had improved since his stay at the Stark tower, partly because of Tony's educational videos and mostly because of Clint's relationship with him after battles, it was still a wonder that Hulk could even _talk_. He was still more bronze than brains though.

"Cupid… how cute." Clint mostly whispered to himself, when he first found out about Hulk's nickname for him he found it offensive, now he just found it endearing.

"Why's he angry with Tony?" Clint asked as that part of the sentence registered. Another fact he found fascinating was Hulk's ability to connect with what Banner was feeling, he knew that if Bruce stopped being such a self-righteous asshole and just accepted Hulk, they would have a deeper more connected relationship.

"Tin Man… was friend- he still struggled with words though, and that sometimes got him frustrated- and he… Little Ma- _Banner_ confused, but mostly mad, Hul- _I _would know." Hulk replied, reminding himself to use proper nouns and to stop addressing himself in third person.

"Tony's still his friend, that hasn't changed, Hulk, I was being stupid. Please, I really need to talk to him." Clint pleaded with the Green Giant.

"Hmph." Was Hulk's reply. He turned his back to Clint and sat down, the floors shaking a little.

"Hey Hulk, don't ignore me, Hulk, _Hulk!_" Clint tried and tried to get the Hulk's attention but he was being ignored. He would not be ignored.

"Hulk!" Clint shouted as he tackled the giant from behind, probably not his smartest move.

_Rawr!_

Clint was flung into a nearby wall but he barely felt it, he's been through worse.

"Yeah I know, I'm sorry, but I really need to talk to him and you were ignoring me." Clint said in his defense, as the Hulk circled him threateningly.

"Cupid really _stupid_." Hulk said aggressively.

"I know, that's why I need to talk to Bruce, so he can make me un-stupid." Clint said, flashing a smile. Hulk rolled his eyes and shook his head, much like his counterpart would do.

"He not want… but if Cupid wants, Cupid gets, he can't fight you." Hulk sighed out as he closed his eyes and calmed down. He left a disoriented Bruce in his wake.

"Bruce!" Clint shouted alarmed, as he noticed just how unbalanced Bruce was.

"Clint?" Bruce asked still not fully himself, he looked around a bit and noticed where he was.

"Clint!" And now he was awake.

"Bruce." Clint replied, a goofy smile on his face.

"What are you doing in here? Did that _monster _hurt you?" Bruce asked already standing up to check on Clint, it seemed as though he didn't remember just _why_ they were in there.

"First, he's not a monster, second, he would never hurt me, and third, it's because of you that I'm in here." Clint said, standing up.

"My fault? Did the Avengers alarm go off or something? The last thing I remember is Tony and me were building a microsco- _Tony._" And there it was.

"Hey Bruce, calm down. I just finished asking the Hulk to let you come back I don't want him telling me 'I told you so.'" Clint said calmly.

"Wait, _tell_ you? Are you teaching him _English?_ How many times have I told you guys to stay away from him, that he's dangerous, that he should be killed the moment he's vulnerabl-

"Listen to the way you're speaking! You're the monster here, Hulk cares about you, about all of us, he fights with himself every day to try and be as good as he can be and you're just pushing him away, it's because of you he's so angry and bitter." Clint shouted, they've had this argument before, but now Bruce couldn't run away.

"You talk about him as if he were human." Bruce murmured, crossing his arms over his naked chest, the ripped shirt lay around the room… somewhere.

"Because he is, and if you're worried about my safety don't, I'm an assassin, hell, I ran into the lion's cage in order to get away from a whooping once when I was eleven. You don't need to worry about me." Clint said, reddening a little in the face, he'd forgotten about that.

"Well aren't you brave." Bruce spat out, trying in vain to keep his heart under control.

"Bruce-

"Don't, I know what you're going to say, but no I did not get angry about you… about you and Tony, in fact, congrats. I'm really happy for the both of you." Bruce congratulated, his voice close to dead.

"Bruce you idiot, you big, stupid, adorable, idiot. I didn't do it because I'm in a relationship with Tony, I didn't even do it to make Steve jealous, I did it to make _you_ jealous, granted that was a pretty girly thing for me to do, but… I didn't know what _else_ to do! You keep ignoring every advance I make, you say we're just friends yet the way you make me feel… it's different damn it! And I don't know how to express that." Clint said trying his hardest to keep the tears in, if he let them fall then everything else would spill out.

"Tony, should we be watching this?" Steve asked as they huddled close over the screen in the dark room.

"No." Tony said his eyes glued to the screen.

"Then why are we-

"Shh… he's gonna confess." Tony whispered dramatically. Dum-E whizzed over with a bag of pop-corn.

"Thanks Dum-E I knew I kept you for something." Tony said, as he munched on the popcorn. Steve sighed looking over at Tony's face noticing how the screen illuminated it just right, his hand started to itch and he was ever thankful that his drawing hand was free. He noticed how Tony reached out for the pop-corn with his tongue rather than shove it in his mouth. Each time he did so left a little wet mark on his lips, making them more kissable. That being said, he was still seething with jealousy, though Clint had just finished explaining that that was not the case for his abrupt kiss. Steve turned his head away; he knew that if he let his thoughts wonder any further it would be the death of his will power.

"Bruce… please, I want to try and work this out. Don't say no because you think you'll hurt me, say no because you don't care about me, say no because you love someone else, say no for any other reason, but please, if there is nothing stopping you… say yes?" Clint asked, completely oblivious to the two member audience.

"Clint, I can't…" Bruce trailed off, turning around and hanging his head.

"Bruce, dammit not you too, I will not be ignored, Bruce!" The archer turned the doctor around and crushed their lips together, and then he slowed down. Putting so much sweetness into it, a diabetic would die.

"There it is, there it is!" Tony said clapping their hands together and… sniffling?

"Tony are you… crying?" Steve asked surprised and kinda touched, he didn't expect such kindness from him.

"No… my eyes are sweating." Tony said. He was ready to send the two males on the screen to a honeymoon, on a private island (that he owned of course) and give them each a million dollars.

"Mhmm." Steve replied, smiling softly.

"But what about the scene in the lab all those weeks ago, you told Tony you felt nothing, that we were just friends." Bruce said trying to figure everything out.

"I lied, blame it on Natasha, she's a pretty good liar. Besides, it's not like Tony can say anything, the way he stormed out of the lab when I-

"And that's enough eavesdropping for one day." Tony said a bit hysterically. Steve did _not_ need to see that.

"I kinda wanted to hear what he was going to say." Steve said, reaching over to touch the button Tony had pressed.

"No, I don't think so." Tony said swiping his hand over the screen effectively cutting off Steve's attempts.

"And why not?" Steve asked as he tried to reach the screen over Tony's head and touch the little icon he had seen disappear into another folder.

"Because I said so." Tony replied as he hopped onto the desk and tried to reach the screen to disable it. The sudden movement had unbalanced Steve and he toppled over Tony crashing into his body on the way down.

They laid there motionless for a few beats, the only light radiating from Tony's chest.

He was sure it was unconscious, but when Steve saw Tony lick his lips he almost lost it… almost. Tony's arc reactor shone a little brighter as he noticed the way Steve was looking at him, any longer and he'd pounce.

"Get off me would you; you're like a ton of bricks." Tony said, more bitter than he meant to be, the last thing he wanted Steve to do was get up, his unnaturally cool body effectively cooled his overheated one. That energy source in the center of his chest didn't go unnoticed, it warmed up his body a degree or two and it always left him feeling hot. Steve was like a balm, he guessed that spending seventy years below zero would do that to someone. Likewise, Tony's hot body felt like heaven, and all Steve wanted to do was snuggle deeper into the warmth. He felt it when they were in bed together but could never actually embrace it, like he was doing now.

"Sorry." Steve whispered rolling over and looking up at the ceiling, he tried to calm his breathing, overreacting to an accident would not help either of them.

"Whatever, let's just get out of here. We'll start testing later."

* * *

"So… is that a yes?" Clint asked hopefully, after they talked things out, to say he was happy would be an understatement.

"As long as you understand that if this- Bruce pointed to the both of them- doesn't work out, that you try not to push it. We might have to start slow at first." Bruce said taking his hands from around Clint's hips; they just felt so… natural to him, like they were made for his hands alone.

He took a step back.

"Slow… I can do that, I'll wait as long as you want to, no need to rush, I won't tell the team, though unfortunately, as soon as we leave this room Natasha will know… she's creepy like that." Clint rambled out. He could already feel the loss of heat from their previous position and it left him feeling dissatisfied, but he couldn't be selfish. He was happy enough that Bruce was even _considering _a "them," much less starting something.

"Okay then, I guess we should ask someone to let us out seeing as a certain _someone_ decided to step inside the lion's cage." Bruce teased. Clint reddened marginally but rolled his eyes. He could do this, this teasing thing. It felt nice… progress!

"Already got you covered buddy, I hope he explained to you that I was not part of that kiss whatsoever, and that out of the three of us, _I_ feel the most violated?" Tony asked as he typed in the seventeen digit passcode, lightning fast.

"Sorry again Tony, I do owe you one." Clint apologized, rubbing the back of his neck as he stepped out.

"You do now; does that mean I should be calling the wedding planners?" Tony asked in mock surprise.

"You were spying weren't you?" Bruce and Clint asked together.

"Already speaking in unison, impressive, and what is this _spying_ you speak of?" Tony asked, his grin giving him away.

"In my defense, I tried to stop him." Steve said. Bruce looked at him and smiled.

"I didn't expect any less from him." Bruce said holding his hand out for Clint, who just about melted.

"Why would you want to be subjected to this?" Tony asked as he raised his right hand. "_You_ have a choice! Are you _mocking_ us?" He asked after a thought.

"Maybe." Clint said sticking his tongue out.

* * *

It was one of those rare afternoons where all of the Avengers were congregated in the same area, a movie, no one was really watching, on the flat screen, and the different scents of food floating around the room followed by content chewing, could be heard.

"Did I ever… say… how thankful… I am for you… being a billionaire… Stark?" Clint asked between bites.

"No, I also never heard you mention how thankful you are for my beautiful face to grace your eyes every day." Tony added with an air of arrogance.

"Fuck you man." Clint said as he choked on his soda with laughter.

"No thanks, that slot's already taken." Tony said looking at a random dot on the wall when all the questioning gazes fell on him.

"I'm just joking." He whispered conspiratorially. The others shook their heads.

"Hey Tony, I've been meaning to ask you, since this has been bothering me for a while… how do you two put your shirts on?" Clint asked as he downed the rest of his soda.

The others looked at Steve and Tony with renewed interest, they really never thought about that (or if they had, they didn't care).

"Well, you know how I'm a multi-billionaire, more like a gazillionaire really but who's counting?" Tony gloated, always one to remind others how rich he was, not to be cruel or anything, but he enjoyed the exasperated look on their faces.

"Get on with it?" Natasha asked.

"Well as one, I don't shop in regular people clothing stores, actually, I don't shop in stores, I find that other people touching the cloth makes it icky, so I hired multiple tailors and created about twenty Tony Stark inspired chain stores. One of my favorite tailors name is Michelle Lamar, I offered her a bonus and was quite impressed she replied with such a quantity in such short notice, I added a little extra to her bonus just for that." Tony finished, picking up his bottle of water.

"Still doesn't explain how you get your clothes on." Clint reminded.

"Cap show them." Tony said nudging Steve gently in the side, their earlier mishap not lost to him.

"Why me?" Steve asked taking a bite of his apple… ugh, fruit.

"Because you have the best body out of all of us." Tony explained slowly as if it were a known fact.

"Pardon?" Thor said, speaking up for the first time, he looked at Tony incredulously.

"No offence Point Break, but out of all of us, who is a. attached to a person?" Tony challenged.

"Fair enough, I will give you that one Young Stark." Thor replied, still a little hurt.

"I still don't see why I have to do this…" Steve trailed off as he removed his shirt. The little zipper at the side was concealed so it would look like the normal hem on a shirt. It facilitated the removal of the shirt, also the fact that they had to do this one-handed made the design quite ingenious.

"Impressive." Clint complimented.

"Thanks." Tony said dismissively.

"Seems a bit complicated, don't you think?" Loki asked, all eyes turned to him silently asking him if he was serious.

"Well if you'd like to offer a solution that would separate our hands, feel free to share." Tony said sarcastically.

"I cannot, and again I apologize, but when my magic is once again my own, I could place a spell that would allow your clothing to phase through your arms, we could call it, as you Midgardians say, even?" Loki offered, he was trying to make amends.

"No, no more spells-

"Come on Steve, you were complaining the entire week about the clothes, besides what else could he do to us, turn us into women?" Tony asked.

"Now there's an idea." Loki said mischievously.

"Don't even, but if you mean what you say, I guess it wouldn't hurt you _helping_ us." Tony said, not really happy with the arrangement but what other choice did he have.

"It is settled then. Four days from today I shall have the spell prepared, but for now I must depart, I am growing increasingly tired by the second; the last few days are the most draining to say the least. I thank you for the pleasant food; they don't have such flavorful selections in Asgard, right brother?" Loki asked with a small smile.

"Correct." Thor replied nodding his head and accompanying him to their shared quarters.

"You know… for an asshole he has really nice manners." Clint said out loud.

"Indeed he does." Steve agreed.

As the sun started to reach its peak the Avengers alarm went off and the others looked back at Tony and Steve regrettably.

"We miss you guys in battle so much, Tony… it's always good to have an extra set of eyes in the sky and Steve, your commands always produce the best outcome. Please try to figure this out soon, we're struggling without you." Clint said solemnly.

"We know, and we're trying, just give us a little more time." Steve pleaded with Clint; the archer nodded and left the building.

After the Tower fell silent, Tony sighed.

"Come on Steve, another day another dollar; let's find out what's truly keeping us together."

And with that they left the common room not noticing the little pattern their impressions had made on the sofa.

It was a heart.

* * *

**That's it for that! Hope the kisses weren't too random, you almost got a third one, but I thought better against it. So finally two of them got their shit straight, now we have six others to follow in Bruce's and Clint's example. Until next time! **

**Note: I do understand that in Captain America, Steve actually _kissed_ Peggy, but I'd like to believe that that never got a chance to happen. Ignorance is bliss.**

***An analogy for those who don't understand, Steve is saying that because nothing came out of their visit to the lab that it wasn't fruitful. Rather than saying it was in vain, or that it proved unfruitful, he decides to exaggerate and call it rotten.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone, sorry for the late update.**

* * *

"Steve, damn it, _pull harder_!" Tony ordered through gritted teeth as he tried in vain to hold his hand steady.

"I'm… trying… _damn it_." Steve retorted through heavy breaths. He was sweating bullets with the effort. Currently, they were trying (well Steve) to separate their hands long enough for Tony to look into the microscope and see just exactly _what _was holding them together.

"Come on Mr. Super Soldier, pull harder!" Tony demanded as he kept his eyes glued to the scope, hoping to catch a glimpse of _something_.

When Steve discontinued his efforts Tony gave him _the _look. That was about the fifth time he's done that in the past hour.

"What?" Steve asked leaning back on the chair his entire shirt drenched and his hair dripping water. This beat his regular routine tenfold.

"You couldn't hold on a bit longer?" Tony asked the same question he's asked since they started the experiment and Steve replied with the same answer.

"Why don't you try? Besides, I don't want to break your hand by pulling by your wrist; I wouldn't hear the end of it." He took a swig of the fizzy water Tony kept in the fridge; he made a face at the taste.

"Well Mr. Super Soldier, I _would_, if I were made out of a ton of bricks, but since I'm not…" Tony trailed off as he sighed. Screw having _built_ the damn scope, it was all in vain if they couldn't even get a glimpse at what was wrong.

"I'm not _made _out of a ton of bricks, Tony. I just got lucky." Steve reminded, sitting back up. Tony was about to point out how Steve hadn't even gotten a _chance_ to get lucky, but he decided better against it. Steve wouldn't understand his crude humor anyways.

"Wanna try again?" Tony asked after a couple of breaths, he silently hoped for a no, this was not very fun for him either.

"Can we postpone this until later? I'm beat." Steve pleaded his eyebrows coming together making him look twice as young.

"I guess… what do you want to do?" Tony asked glancing at the time. It was still too early to go to bed.

"I don't really have anything in mind… did the others come back from the fight?" Steve asked, there was a sort of longing in his voice it was laced with a bit of regret as well. He didn't blame Loki for what happened to them, but if Thor hadn't brought his brother to the Tower, none of this would be happening… and he wouldn't feel so _useless_ stuck down here with Tony. He bet Tony felt the same.

"Jarvis?" Tony asked his robotic butler for feedback.

"Not yet sir, the Avengers are still debriefing with Director Fury." Jarvis replied.

"So the only other individual in the Tower is Loki." Steve stated rather than asked.

"Yes, it seems that way." Tony replied getting up from his stool and stretching, he cracked a couple of bones in his back and looked around.

"Jarvis, when is my next upgrade due?" Tony asked absentmindedly as he noticed the slight pain radiating through his chest as he stretched.

"Not for another month sir, would you like me to prepare the device for now?" Jarvis asked, a bit of a worrisome tone in his voice.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked thoroughly confounded.

"Don't worry about it, and not yet Jarvis, I think I can manage." Tony said quickly. The pain must have been from when Steve fell on him earlier. He must have caused a crack in the foundation of the arc reactor.

"Sir, if you are feeling any-

"I said _not yet _Jarvis; I programmed you to be my butler, not my _wife_." Tony interrupted; he was becoming overwhelmed with all these people trying to check up on him, and Steve was looking at him weird again.

"Did something happen with your-

"Just drop it." Tony demanded with a finite tone.

"Okay." Steve acquiesced. He would find out later, but right now, if Tony didn't feel like talking he didn't have to. He should have learnt that lesson a while ago.

* * *

"And that concludes our meeting, you're all dismissed." Director Fury said looking at the crew with his one good eye. The fight hadn't taken long and it hadn't been hard. Just a couple of stray scientist mixing chemicals they shouldn't have. He would have to remind the police department that his Team wasn't expendable. They needed to stop crying wolf when they felt as if dealing with the situation would cause them too much money.

"Natasha." Fury stopped the assassin in her tracks.

"Sir?" She asked with a hint of boredom. Since Tony and Steve had been compromised, the debriefings had been incredibly boring. Without their constant bickering, or Tony's smart remarks to anything anyone said, she would never admit this, but, the meetings lacked their luster and she _missed _it. They used to put a micro-miniscule smile on her face.

"I'm a male-

"So I've noticed." She interrupted slyly.

"-and I really hate talking about this," Fury continued as if she hadn't said anything, "but it should be that time of the month for Miss Potts, you remembered correct?" Fury asked, never needing to, but always one to make sure.

"Of course I remembered sir; I was about to head out when the alarm went off." Natasha replied. Unfortunately, it was that time of the month for her as well.

He nodded and she was dismissed.

Ever since Pepper's exposure to Extremis, Shield has been all over her. In the beginning it had been worse, if it hadn't been for Tony's constant arguing for Pepper's rights, she would be in a lab somewhere underground… or underwater. That being said, Shield still wanted to keep a close eye on her, she was still extremely dangerous even if she didn't pose a purposeful threat to anyone.

And that's where Natasha came in.

Tony hadn't been very happy with the arrangement at first, but of course he didn't have a choice, he still disliked the idea of his ex-lover/best friend/co-worker being checked on like some lab rat.

Natasha hadn't been too happy either, that is, until she got to know Pepper. Her initial visits usually lasted a couple of minutes, thirty seconds if she wasn't in the mood. But now, she looked forward to them, Pepper always made the best pastries…

The only reason today, or at least this week, was special was because Pepper was on her menstrual cycle, Extremis seemed to act out a bit when her hormones were under construction. Natasha smiled at that, leave it to a woman made object to retaliate against its own kind.

* * *

Her knock on the door was quick and short, Natasha could hear the light footsteps of the owner of the apartment, she also noticed a new door… she'd have to ask Pepper about it later.

"Natasha, I was wondering when you'd arrive, held up in another battle?" Pepper asked allowing the female assassin to enter.

"Yes, but every battle is a glorious one as Thor would say. How is Extremis acting?" Natasha asked sitting down graciously, being an assassin made it hard to be discourteous.

"Pretty calm, except for this morning my sheets were burned, among other things…" Pepper trailed off.

"The joys of being a woman." Natasha replied sarcastically, her characteristically stoic features morphed into a nicer, more amicable complexion. It was because of Pepper, that woman made her smile from ear to ear, no one had ever had that effect on her before. She was a bit weary.

"Cookie?" Pepper offered the plate to Natasha, who perked up at the sight of white chocolate macadamias.

"Always, did you bake these _yourself_?" Natasha asked knowingly.

"Why use an oven when your fingers can burn holes through walls?" Pepper asked with mock surprise.

"Naturally." Natasha replied. She knew it was wrong to let her guard down around Pepper, all her instincts and all her rigorous training told her it was wrong. But she couldn't _help _it; something about the other female drew her in, like a moth to the flame.

"How are the other's? And you, how are they treating you?" Pepper asked touching on a familiar topic.

"In denial, and as for me, if you're that worried you should move in." Natasha offered, placing the plate of finished cookies on the table, Pepper handed her a glass of milk to wash them down.

"Me, move in… no, not yet at least. Tony and I are still on unsteady terms, going back to the Tower now would be… for the lack of a better word, awkward." Pepper replied her lids lowering sadly.

"Yeah… I suppose." Natasha said a bit disappointed.

"And don't get me started on denial, they're blinder than bats!" Pepper said rolling her eyes; they sat extremely close, their thighs brushing against each other, yes… only the boys were in denial.

"Well Clint and Bruce finally figured it out, you should have seen Hulk in the battlefield today… a sight to see, he picked up Clint from the roof and threw him around like a rag doll, of course the old circus freak was enjoying every second of it." Natasha retold, animatedly. She was truly happy for her best friend, he'd been trying for a while and now he's finally gotten his chance. She just hopes he doesn't fuck it up.

"That's great! What about Steve and Tony?" Pepper asked enthusiastically.

"Lat- um… they are still same-old, I think living under the same roof is a bit rough on them both." Natasha said amending her mistake before it was too late. She wanted to tell Pepper, but it was not her secret to tell, though she wouldn't have been surprised if Pepper already knew. Pepper had such great intuition it was scary.

"I've known Tony for a very long time… it will take him a while to admit anything to himself, even more so to admit anything to anyone." Pepper said sadly, laying her head on Natasha's shoulder.

"Yep, boys are so stupid when it comes to love." Natasha said silently looking down at Pepper's head with a dismayed look on her face.

* * *

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" The ill mischief maker cursed as he rearranged his room. Nothing fit, nothing seemed to feel correct. He changed the color, too bright, too dark, too _bleh_. He changed the size of the bed, too small, too large, too wide, too long. Ugh! He couldn't make up his mind.

This stage was like the end of a bad dream, where everything is hypersensitive, and too many objects are flying in at once.

His magic was returning slowly but in its wake the beloved Jotunheim mating season began.

Damn it!

He stood on the roof of his bedroom staring at it upside down, he _had _to calm down.

"By the Gods, Thor, what do you want?" Loki asked annoyed, as his brother entered his disgruntled bedroom, he was still standing on the roof so his vision was flipped.

"What happened here?" Thor asked, seeming to forget for an instant why he entered the room in the first place.

"Do you really need to ask?" Loki asked him seriously. The smaller male walked circles in order to direct those damn pheromones into the opposite direction.

"I suppose I do not… I've been meaning to ask, if given the choice, would you like to continue your stay at the Tower?" Thor asked pulling up a random chair and sitting down, placing Mjolnir on the ground with a dull thud.

"I do not care where I reside Thor, I would be perfectly capable of surviving in a rock under the ocean, you are not my big brother, and you are not my mother. Stop treating me as if I were a babe." Loki snapped noticing how the electricity in the air increased. The hairs on his arms and neck stood up as they took in the change.

"Loki… that is where you are wrong. I am indeed your big brother, and though I am not your mother, I care for you, much more than you know." Thor said… was that a confession?

Loki swallowed whatever silly joy he felt and stomped it with his booted foot.

"Leave my quarters," Loki said, "please." He added.

Thor sighed and left the room, but before he exited fully he turned halfway and said, "I've always cared for you, you know, that will never change." And then he left.

Loki stopped breathing for a little bit, he fell on his back still on the roof. Gravity didn't affect him but he still felt as if he were falling. Where? He wasn't sure; he just knew it rhymed with _chore_.

* * *

_Slow, I can do this, take it slow Clint, if you ask him too soon he might freak out and end it. Oh no, now I'm freaking out, stop it! You're not a girl, stop, stop, stop freaking out. Oh no. he's looking at me weird again!_

Clint was mentally freaking out (if you hadn't noticed) as Bruce cooked the team dinner; the doctor looked up worriedly from his rhythmic stirring to his new partner.

"Clint, are you alright?" Bruce asked placing the onions into the pot. He was making his famous Indian Curry.

"Slow, I mean _sure_." Clint replied quickly, oh _God_, he was going to mess this up so badly and they haven't even been with each other for a full 24 hours yet!

"You seem kinda nervous, is everything alright?" Bruce asked decreasing the temperature in the almost finished dinner. Currently they were the only two in the industrial sized kitchen, but soon all the others would waltz in and take their seats.

"Yes, yes, Bruce, don't worry about it. Just random jitters." Clint said a strained smile on his face. Damn it! He was losing his cool faster than the melting ice cubes in his cup.

"You're worried about what I said earlier about taking it slow aren't you?" Bruce asked, dead on.

"I thought I was the only one who could get a Bull's Eye on their first try?" Clint said, regaining some of his cool back by joking.

"It was pretty easy to deduce what was on your mind, I'm no Sigmund Freud, but you don't have to be a psychologist to know what was bothering you." Bruce said, laying a hand on Clint's clasped ones. The former's warmed the latter's with naturally aided by gamma-radiated body heat.

"I may have been exaggerating on that whole _take it slow_ thing. If we're doing this, we do it one hundred percent." Bruce said quietly as if he were sharing a secret. He leaned in and placed a small kiss on Clint's forehead. The archer turned scarlet from head to toe and Bruce just laughed.

"Go call the others for me would ya'?" Bruce asked a couple of minutes later.

"Okay." Clint replied, a skip in his step.

He stopped by Thor's complex first (since it was closer) and told them it was dinner time; he stopped by Natasha's next and noticed she was absent. _Probably still at Peppers._

As he approached Tony's lab, he slowed down when he heard shouting. Like the good spy that he was, he blended into the shadows and eavesdropped.

"… Not my fault okay! I tried; everything I ever do is a failure to you Tony! Mr. Stark, the great, Mr. Stark the powerful, you know, you wouldn't even _be_ that way if it hadn't been for your father!" Steve shouted. Low blow Steve, low blow.

"Don't you _dare_ compare me to Howard! And isn't it a bit ironic that you would say something like that? Seeing as it was _my dear old daddy's _machine that allowed for your transformation in the first place!" Tony retorted, his heart pounding into his chest beating against his arc reactor causing him more pain, it was Steve's stupid caring that started the argument in the first place.

In the end, Steve hadn't been able to calm his curiosity and kept asking Tony what was wrong. This resulted in the birth of their current argument.

_They're at it again_. Clint thought as he observed the other men in the shadows.

"And I am very thankful for that! All I was trying to do was hel-

Steve shut up as he noticed a third heart beat in the room (his hearing became hypersensitive when he was excited in any way).

"What?" Tony asked, momentarily calmed.

"Clint, are you _eavesdroppin_g?" Steve asked the archer, he knew Clint was listening.

"Damn he's good." Clint complimented silently, he stood at the entrance of the lab looking at the steaming males.

"Bruce say's dinners' ready." Clint said apologetically.

"Food, yes, good." Tony said, he looked back at Steve and added, "we'll finish this… conversation later."

* * *

The only sounds around the dinner table were the soft clinking of fork against plate as the food was scooped up.

The tension was so thick you could carve a house out of it.

Tony and Steve kept their eyes lowered on their plates, feeling extremely awkward (even though they've eaten around the others before). They decided to keep their hands underneath the table so it wouldn't look as if they were a couple holding hands on a date.

Loki sat as far away from Thor as he could, which inadvertently had him semi-glued to Steve's shoulder (who tried to ignore it, bad enough already he had Tony), Thor wasn't eating with his usual vigor, instead, he played around with the spicy stuff not in the mood to eat.

Bruce and Clint were the only two who actually seemed to enjoy their dinner.

"Here, try it with this." Bruce said as he fed the archer a combination of different parts of the food.

"Mmmhmm, that's good, I didn't know you could cook so well." Clint hummed, as he reveled in the taste.

"Thank you." Bruce chuckled returning to his food, he looked around the table and noticed the solemn looks on his fellow companions.

"Is everything alright guys?" Bruce asked.

"Indeed, do not fret, all is well." Thor said, his tone contradicting his statement.

"Oh please, do not vex yourself with such useless sentiment, we are alright." Loki replied, the last thing he needed was another worried Avenger. The gloom and doom feeling from the other three was enough to dampen his already upset mood.

"Thanks Doctor Banner, but I'm alright, just not very hungry tonight… I guess." Steve said always the polite one.

"Shut the fuck up Bruce, you know? You and Legolas are over there making kissy faces at each other while we fine bachelors are trying to eat. I would really appreciate if you two horny fuckers would get a room. Pick one, I have over a hundred." Tony snapped. Pain made him bitchy, and he was, at the moment, in some pain.

Everyone stopped breathing and looked at Tony, even Loki's fork slipped from his hands.

"What?" Tony asked annoyed, all that staring was making him uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry you're jealous but-

"I'm not jealous! Why would I even _be _jealous, I could get the digits from a pretty lady faster than you could make a bull's eye! I don't have anything to be jealous about Clint." Tony snapped, standing up in his rage. He was _not _jealous, he could _not _be.

"Are you done Steve?" Tony asked, wishing for the billionth time that he could walk away, that he didn't have to stay another second with all of their questioning eyes on him. That he could take a swig of something. Oh _God_ how he missed alcohol!

"Yes." Steve lied, but right now it didn't matter that he barely touched the delicious food, Tony was upset and he sure didn't want to be on the receiving end of his anger.

As they walked away, Natasha entered the room a cold look on her face.

"Curry?" Clint asked as she glided past them.

"_Hiss_!" She hissed out in Clint's direction, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Okay no curry." Clint hurried out, holding his hands up apologetically.

"It seems that our comrades are both upset and hurt." Thor observed, glancing quickly at Loki and then back down at his untouched food.

"You can say that again." Clint sighed out as he looked over to the horizon.

"Thank you, Bruce for the delicious food, but I must depart to my quarters now, until tomorrow's morn." Loki said as a good night, simultaneously getting up and snapping his fingers. The unused plates around the table took themselves to the kitchen and placed themselves calmly in the sink.

"And then there were three." Clint whispered. At that Thor pushed himself out of the table brusquely, grabbed his hammer, grabbed a jacket, and left the tower.

"And then there were-

"Do you want to sleep by yourself tonight?" Bruce snapped with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Clint looked at him with wonderment in his eyes and shook his head vigorously.

"Then shut up." Bruce sighed out. Clint nodded.

"I've never seen Natasha so angry before, she's usually very self-contained." Bruce commented absently as he finished the curry. He's only ever seen one other emotion on her face before, one of pure, unadulterated terror…

"Someone must have betrayed her trust, I can only guess who." Clint said sadly, he put the glass of water to his lips and took a sip.

"I guess… come on, let's go to bed." Bruce said. "Jarvis, could you get these dishes for me please?" He added as an afterthought.

"Right away sir, good night sirs." Jarvis replied.

"Likewise."

* * *

_Never, never again was she going to let someone enter her thoughts! Damn her, damn her to hell where she belongs_.

Natasha cried into her pillow making sure her sobs where quiet. Regardless of the assurances Tony gave her that all the rooms were soundproof, she still didn't want to hear herself cry.

Everything was going perfect until she mentioned a date, a life together, hell even children! Something Natasha had _never _thought about. But no, no of course it wasn't that easy.

'I still care for Tony' she says, and 'I don't date girls' she says. Hell! She hadn't either until Pepper came into her life.

"Fuck, I hate being a woman!" Natasha hissed into her pillow. Her phone began to ring on that special line reserved for emergencies.

Her entire demeanor changed, her eyes dried immediately and all thoughts of _her _were pushed aside.

"Director?" There were only select few people who knew this number, and she was damn sure Fury was on the other line.

"No… Natasha, please don't hang up!" Pepper's voice asked urgently. Natasha was about to do just that, but she gave the woman the benefit of the doubt, this must be important if she called her on this line.

"What is it?" She asked her tone icy cold.

"C-could you please come back?" Pepper whispered urgently.

"Why?" Natasha asked uncharacteristically, when given an order an assassin is never supposed to ask why.

"It's… Extremis, it's acting out." Pepper said a quiver in her tone. She was still whispering. Something must be really wrong.

"I'll be right there."

* * *

"Miss Potts?" Natasha called out into the empty apartment.

"I-in the bedroom." Pepper called out stuttering a bit.

Natasha didn't like the sound of her voice; she went into stealth mode and sneaked up to the door.

"Pepper, are you alright?" Natasha asked one hand on the door the other reaching for her gun.

"Yes." _No._

Natasha kicked the door down and pointed her gun in the direction of the perpetrator. He wasn't there.

_Behind you. _Pepper mouthed before everything went black.

* * *

Reality faded in slowly, and at times, she thought she was dreaming. She remembered (at least she thought she did) a long tunnel with white lights every couple of feet, she remembered screaming, not her own… she remembered a smiling face before she truly went under.

And then she opened her eyes. The first thing she analyzed was her person. She was tied by the feet and the arms, her mouth gagged and she could feel the bruise on the back of her head. It was obvious that the person who kidnapped her was an amateur; it still surprised her that whoever it was got the drop on her. The second thing she noticed was that she was stripped down to her undergarments.

Joy.

So her captor was both new at this and a pervert.

She looked around and almost swallowed her tongue when she saw the condition Pepper was in.

They had strapped her in a chair and dipped her in a gelatin solution an oxygen mask over her face, probably so Extremis wouldn't cause any problems. Why hadn't she used Extremis before? What had they done to her that would make it obsolete?

"Well, well, well, it seems that you are awake little spider." The captor's voice said. She sighed internally and rolled her eyes. Time to get out of this.

"Mhm mhm hmm hm mmh." Natasha said through the gag faking the part of scared victim.

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you?" The captor said a smile in his voice. He was hiding within the shadows so she couldn't quite make out his face, but the voice sounded familiar.

"Mhhmm."

"Alright, I suppose I could ungag you." The captor said stepping into the light. _Alexander Baxter_, oh now she knew. The damn bastard used to be a Shield agent; she'd had a thing with him, nothing big. After that, however, he'd clung to her like super glue.

She couldn't take it so she beat him up and told him to leave her alone. He'd turned malicious, never finished his missions or purposefully messed up, so Fury had no other choice but to dismiss him. I suppose he's out for revenge now.

"Please Alex, let her go, I'll do anything!" Natasha pleaded her eyes filling with tears. She could have already been miles away from here but she wanted to hear his _master plan_.

"Oh my dear Natasha, I'm afraid I can't, your little friend over there will make me millions, I'm just waiting for my associate to arrive, but you however are my little prize." Alexander whispered out his breath ghosting over Natasha's ear. She had to try her hardest to keep the gag to a minimum.

"Please Alex… you don't have to do this, w-we can work this out…" She pleaded with the smiling lunatic.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You had your chance to work it out, now it's my turn." He said starting to walk away.

"Wait… Alex, I-I've missed you." Natasha said, undoing the loops of the hastily made knot. What a disgrace, and _he _was supposed to be a Shield agent?

"What?" Alexander asked turning around slowly, a suspicious look on his face.

"Yes… the only reason I didn't start anything was because of Shield, if they would have known… you know their policies as well as I do. They would have never allowed it!" Natasha pleaded a sad smile on her face hiding the victorious one. She'd undone the knot.

"Yes, that's true! I knew you loved me Natasha, I'm so sorry my little spider!" Alexander rushed out running to her side and planting a kiss on her lips.

"Oh Alex how I've missed this, your touches, your kisses…. Mmm right there." She moaned as his lips traveled down to her neck.

Pepper woke up slowly and found herself bound by her hands, legs, and midsection. Her vision was blurry but she could still make out the scene displayed in front of her. A seething fire traveled through her entire body, though she could not figure out why Extremis wasn't working. She looked around her cage and noticed she was in some form of goo while Natasha was making out with some _guy_. Ugh, it made her sick! Why _did_ it make her sick?

"Alex?" Natasha cooed.

"Yes~" He hummed out a triumphant smile on his face, during the kiss he hadn't even noticed how their positions had changed.

"You're a fucking idiot." Natasha said.

"What the hell?" He cursed, as he noticed his hands were bound to the chair, this time, in an inescapable knot.

"Did you really think I cared for you? Now I just feel sorry for you, but not that sorry, who are you working for?" Natasha demanded. Alexander's expression morphed into a sneer and he spat in her direction.

"You're disgusting." Natasha said making sure to avoid the little spit puddle.

"I'm not telling you anything." He growled out, struggling with the binds, they were cutting off the circulation to his hands and legs.

He really hadn't expected the nose-breaking blow she delivered to his face. His vision went white for a second as the unexpected pain radiated through his head.

"I know exactly how much pain you can stand, and I know exactly how much pain I can cause, if you want your death to be short and sweet I suggest you cooperate." Natasha threatened.

"Please, I'll do anyth-

She cut him off with another blow to the jaw shattering one of his molars.

"Then talk." Natasha ordered cracking her knuckles.

"He's that new guy, _Simafoid_ or _Sigmaroid-_

"_SigmaToid_." Natasha breathed in disbelief.

"Yes, him. Say's he needs the formula for Extremis and that she's the only one who can provide it." Alex spilled. Looking over at the container.

"Did you see a face?" Natasha demanded.

"No but I saw a check with a lot of zero's following the one, he offered it to anyone who could retrieve the woman. So I took him up on the offer, and he gave me the directions to drop her off, you were never part of the formula but I wanted you for my own. I should have known better than to make her call you." Alex said shaking his bleeding head.

"How, how did you stop Extremis from burning you down?" Natasha asked hurriedly.

"H-he gave me a device, says it will '_make her do my bidding_'. It's in my jacket pocket." He rushed out when he noticed Natasha getting ready to hit him again.

Natasha dug into his pocket and retrieved the weird looking silver remote, it had one button.

"What does it do?" Natasha asked, afraid to press it. It could hurt Pepper.

"I don't really know, I just know when I used it she kinda froze in place and wherever I directed the remote she would follow."

"Is that everything?" Natasha asked. She would take the remote and have Tony examine it; he would know what it does.

"Yes, I think." He replied, with that, she broke his neck. She wiped her hand over her mouth and spat out whatever saliva he had left from their kiss earlier on.

"Good riddance." She hissed out. First things first, Pepper… no she needed to get dressed. This entire heist had been so ridiculously anticlimactic but at least she knew who was behind all this.

After she found her clothing and placed the remote in one of her pockets, she opened Pepper's chamber and unhooked her from her air- supply.

"Pepper, are you alright?" Natasha asked hurriedly scrapping all the goo off as best as she could. She did not however expect the hot slap on her face. That was the first time anyone has caught her off guard (well second time).

"Wha- hmph!" Natasha wasn't able to finish her sentence as her lips were covered with Peppers own. Her kiss was timid and hesitant, the softness of her velvety lips proved to be Natasha's undoing. She kissed back reveling in the taste; Pepper was both sweet and spicy. When Pepper returned Natasha's enthusiasm the force surprised her, not many women could bruise when they kissed. Unfortunately it didn't last long.

"Screw you for confusing me! I-I was perfectly fine by myself, I could have moved on _by myself_, but then you came in and mixed everything up. I didn't even know I could feel this way for a girl damn it! And then you kissed him, and I just wanted to know how it felt like." Pepper said, her emotions showing loud and clear as Extremis restarted and cleared off the excess goo.

"I'm sorry?" Natasha asked, confused herself, earlier Pepper had refused everything she had offered, and now…

"No, it's my fault, I'm sorry I hit you." Pepper apologized raising her hand up to touch Natasha's face but pulled away on the last second when she noticed Extremis was on her fingertips.

"We'll have to work this out, but not here. People are coming for you and I need to get you out of here before they do." Natasha said grabbing Pepper by the arm and rushing them out of the room.

Shit, the corridors were identical on both sides.

"We came in that way… he left me awake since he had complete control of my body. I'll explain later." Pepper said quickly as Natasha nodded and ran down the hallway to their right.

"No need, I know everything." Natasha rushed out.

As they approached the door she stopped and ducked into the nearest hole she could find shielding Pepper with her body.

"What is it?" Pepper whispered.

"Shh." Natasha hushed aiming her gun at the man walking into the building, the idiot was alone.

Pepper closed her eyes as Natasha fired.

They exited the building soon after and made it to the car the man had arrived in, it was still running. She speeded down the road not really worried about safety or the law. As she approached a familiar landmark she slowed down to a stop.

"Get out Pepper." Natasha ordered.

"Why?"

"Just do as I say!" Natasha snapped her breathing hard and fast.

Pepper acquiesced and exited the vehicle; she noticed they were standing over a small hill overlooking the ocean. She didn't realize what Natasha was doing until she saw the car driving straight for the cliff.

"What are you doing?!" Pepper asked as Natasha jumped out in the last second, sticking the landing.

"Leaving no trace, we'll have to take the rest on foot." She replied stoically.

"Was that really necessary?" Pepper asked a couple of miles later, they were still a while away from the Avengers tower; there was no way in hell she was returning Pepper to her apartment until she had the entire building inspected by Shield. She'll just have to keep her in a secluded part of the Tower, Tony will never know.

"Yes, if they tracked down our location everything I have done so far would have been in vain." Natasha replied walking slower than usual for the sake of the tired female next to her.

"Thanks… I guess. This could have gone a lot worse if you hadn't been there, right?" Pepper asked looking up at Natasha.

"Don't think about it, you would have been just fine, Tony or any of the other Avengers would have saved you before they even lay a finger on you." Natasha said with full assurance.

"No Natasha, no one would have done what you did, hell they wouldn't have been able to do what you did. Thank you." Pepper said looking straight ahead.

"Yeah." Natasha said, looking up; the A was shining brightly in the horizon.

* * *

"_Fuck_." Tony hissed as he pulled the arc reactor from his chest for the umpteenth time that night. He trying his hardest to keep very, very, quiet. He couldn't afford Steve waking up right now and playing hero, he could do this by himself, he could take care of himself… it's just that he couldn't place the hooks into the right place while holding the damn thing in his hand, also he was doing this in really dim light, to top it all off, he was working with his left hand, his least dominant hand. Even Steve had more luck in their misfortune than he did.

Dum-E started freaking out when Tony pulled the arc reactor too crudely and blood coated his fingers, the robot was there to hold the old broken one. Steve _had _indeed broken his reactor and shattered the core from the inside, all that energy had slowly been leaking into his chest, burning his lungs, and he had to replace the old piece of crap before he died. Every second he was without the contraption was another second of pain; he could feel the damn shards forcing themselves even deeper…

Damn his pride! If he didn't get this thing in he'd die because he was stupid. Damn his father, because he had taught him this, he had told him to be strong, that he could do everything by himself and that if he asked for help he was weak.

"Shut up Dum-E, I'm fine!" Tony hissed, feeling a steady stream of blood flowing out from around the reactor's hold.

"_Fuck_." He whispered this time his fright coming through.

"Tony? What are you doing?" Steve asked sleepily, Tony jumped a feet in the air at the sound of his voice.

"Nothing, go back to sleep." Tony snapped, knowing that would be impossible now.

"Is that blood? Tony what's wrong?" Steve asked, fully alert.

"I said it's _nothing_, go back to sleep." Tony pleaded. Steve took a deep breath and turned Tony around to face him, stifling a gasp.

"If this is nothing, I wonder what your 'somethings' are." Steve said grabbing hold of the arc reactor.

"What are you-

"Jarvis, the lights please." Steve said cutting Tony off.

"Lean back and hold this." Steve ordered.

"How do you-

"Three months ago, a rocket was launched into your chest and it blasted your suit cracking your reactor," Steve retold as he plugged in the cords, "we made it back to the tower thanks to Thor who flew us here, the others were finishing the fight and I was the only one who could get into the lab since I had actually _read_ the emergency override you had given us. Jarvis helped me fix your heart thingy in your chest." Steve finished as he twisted the reactor in place.

"You were the one… you saved my life?" Tony asked completely blown away (he would dismiss Steve calling it a _heart thingy_ this time).

"Of course I saved your life, you are my team mate. I'll always do everything in my power to save those I care about." Steve replied earnestly, his baby blues radiating with honesty.

"It sure doesn't look that way." Tony grumbled the pain subsiding into a dull throb.

"Okay, so maybe I've been a total jerk-

"Asshole Steve, you were an asshole." Tony corrected.

"-but I wasn't the only _jerk_. May I remind you that you weren't very nice to me either?" Steve said a small smile playing on his lips.

"I'm an asshole all the time Steve, you have no excuse." Tony replied sticking his tongue out.

"Last time I checked, _that's_ not a valid excuse either." Steve said a small chuckle leaving his chest.

"It is in my book." Tony said looking down at their blood-stained hands. Steve followed his line of sight and sighed.

"Let's wash up, shall we?" Steve offered, helping Tony slowly lift himself off the bed.

"I'm sorry I broke your arc reactor in my fall." Steve apologized as they reached the living room sized bathroom.

"How do you know it was you?" Tony asked.

"I heard the crack on my way down, I thought it had been something else." Steve said starting the faucet on boiling. He did this unconsciously of course; he never noticed when he put the temperature hotter than was considered normal.

"It's fine; it was bound for an upgrade anyways." Tony said dismissively, Steve grabbed the hydrogen peroxide and scrubbed their hands.

"You don't have to do everything by yourself you know. No one will consider you weaker if you ask for help." Steve said assuredly.

"Say's the man who's build like a brick house." Tony replied sarcastically.

"No Tony, I'm serious," Steve turned and grabbed Tony by the shoulders, "if you ever need help with anything, I'm here. This could have ended a lot worse than it did." Steve reminded.

"Steve I-

"Just say you will ask _me _for help, please." Steve pleaded with Tony, his eyes serious.

This went against everything he was taught and everything he's learned. Steve was asking him the impossible, to trust in someone enough to ask them for help. He needed help, but not just physical help, mental help, emotional help. Tony was sick, he was miserable on more levels than one, he needed an anchor, an anchor he thought he would have found in Pepper but instead ended up drowning her. But Steve, even if he was just a friend, was strong enough to carry them both on his back. He shouldn't think like that, Steve had enough problems of his own to deal with. Tony couldn't rely on Steve to fix him.

"Tony… don't over think it, I'm not asking you to lay your entire life on the line for this. Just don't be too proud to ask for help, it would save us both the trouble." Steve in an almost whisper, in the middle of the night, at the top most bathroom in the tower, with the most admired man in the world, asked him to trust him and trust _in_ him.

Tony closed his eyes for a second then opened them again and locked eyes with Steve.

"You're serious? Do your really want to deal with what's up here?" Tony pointed to his head, "I almost killed Pepper with my problems. I wouldn't want you blaming me if I killed you with them as well." Tony said steely.

"I trusted you enough to let you see my weakest link, I could have easily pretended to ignore the ice, act as if it didn't matter, but I let you see just how much it affected me. I decided to let you see it, to let you see the despair the cold causes me, to let you see just how weak I actually am, so that you'd stop believing I was nothing more than a successful chemical equation. All I'm asking is that same trust in return." Steve said getting more agitated as the time dragged on.

Tony was silent; he really didn't know what to say to that. Steve had trusted him, even when he didn't trust him at all.

"I'll try… but I won't promise anything." Tony offered.

"I suppose that's the best I can get out of you right now." Steve sighed out defeated. These emotional conversations always left him drained.

"Let's _try _to go back to sleep then." Tony said exiting the bathroom.

A second after their lids closed the Avengers alarm went off reminding them once again how useless they were in their current situation.

"You know Steve… what if we just… did as Loki said?" Tony asked silently at Steve's turned back.

"What?" Steve asked shocked, a slight jolt of delight coursed through his lower abdomen.

"Never mind, stupid idea I know." Tony said his cheeks turning an unnatural shade of red.

Steve didn't say anything else in fear of further rejection; he was disappointed but also curious as to why Tony would suggest something like that. Why now? Had Tony trusted him with something and he'd messed up already?

"We'll get out of this the old fashioned way Steve… with science." Tony said trying not to let his disappointment seep through. He shouldn't have asked, but once it was on his tongue he couldn't swallow the words back, he had to at least know.

Now he knew, and he would never ask again.

* * *

**Hello! Sorry for the three week old update, I know, I know, but it's the holiday's man! I've been a bit busy, that and writers block started seeping in. I still don't like the delivery in this one. Alas it's done, so thank you to all who fave, rev, follow etc. **

**P.S. Was soooo close in putting another kiss in this, can you guess where? If you do, you get a cookie. A virtual one of course. We can't deliver organic items via the interwebs… yet. **


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